Discovering Us
by Simply Sarah
Summary: Chapter 10 is finally here! It's going to be a revealing year for the gang in this, my version of season three, fic. Extensive details inside in the form of a very long intro, followed by Ep.1.
1. Introduction

**Thank you so much for checking out this story! Now, you can skip the following very long reason's why I'm writing this and further explanation of exactly what it is, you can go ahead and read Episode One titled "Here We Go Again", but I'd appreciate if you give what I have to say a chance because I think it will give you a better idea of where the story is coming from. Oh and each chapter is an episode, just so you know and episodes are written in story form not script form. **

Please bear with me even if I momentarily say something you don't like. And the things that are my opinions are just my opinions, it doesn't make it right, it just makes it what I think.

Oh and the Mr. Schneider I refer to would be the actual owner of the show, as I am obviously not otherwise I wouldn't be on here. (Yes, this was my disclaimer.)

* * *

So, the writers of _Zoey 101_ kind of annoy me a bit. Some episodes I only see one writer, other's I see multiple, so I'm not actually sure what's going on there, but whatever it is, it's not working. Well, one of the problems is that all four writers that have ever been credited have been male. This is a show centralizing around a girl and that has a mainly female viewer-ship. Hmm, maybe that's why viewers don't really relate; guys have never been able to figure out what women want so just a hint, hire a writer with ovaries, the show might just turn out better (in a girls opinion at least). 

It seems like they keep making bad decision after bad decision. And sometimes it almost seems like they're insulting their loyal viewers since they're expecting them to roll over and take the sub-par episodes. Like "Robot Wars", that was a pointless episode. Who could seriously relate to that episode? Majority of their viewers, I think not. And they expect the viewers to be okay with the fact that they got lazy. Well, I'm not.

I'm tired of the direction this show is heading. I think it has a lot of untapped potential and it's time someone uses it. I'm going to use it, and hopefully, better than they can.

Now, I'm still going to make it Nick appropriate, but it's going to be Teen Nick appropriate. Right now, they keep it G rated when technically it can go higher since the entire idea of putting "Teen" before "Nick" is to target it at 13 to 19 year olds. I like to give a little leeway either way, allowing for readers slightly younger and slightly older to be able to enjoy this, because in TV world the more people you rope in the better, right? That is how ratings go up.

So, some things are going to stay the same, they have to. The show is technically, even if it doesn't seem so at times, a sitcom. This is not a drama and I cannot turn it into such, but the fact that drama exists can't be ignored as the creators of _Zoey 101_ continuously like to do. I'll admit, it is challenging to give the show realistic drama while still maintaining the traditional light tone of a sitcom, but unlike the real owners of _Zoey 101_, I'm not afraid of a challenge. It may be difficult, but I see that as no reason not to try.

Now, not everything is going to stay the same. If you've read any of my work at all you've probably already guessed I like the character of Dana. Mr. Schneider made a huge mistake when he let her go because he thought Kristin Herrera looked a tad bit older than the other actors. Ever heard of such classics as _Dawson's Creek, The OC_, or _One Tree Hill_ Mr. Schneider? Those shows' actors are much older than their characters and no one really cares. They really need to start taking their cues from more successful shows. You can actually learn something by watching TV. So, in my story, my season three, Dana will be there.

Another thing I'm changing is the premise. TV shows rarely change their premise, but I think this one could do with a change. The premise for the first two seasons has been: the protagonist (Zoey) has a problem (or someone she knows has one, but it becomes her problem), a plan is devised, it works or doesn't and somehow someone learns something. I'm not against the characters learning and growing, but I'm against them doing it in such a cheesy and unrealistic way. Did anyone really believe Logan learned something in "Robot Wars" or the completely stereotype nerds? How unbelievable was that? That's not a problem normal teenagers have. Of course this is TV so the lives of the characters have to be eventful and interesting, but shouldn't a viewer be able to say "Oh my God I relate to this character!" Am I asking too much in thinking that the characters should be realistic and have more than half a handful of personality traits? I think not. So, the premise is changing, first not everything is going to be Zoey centered. I have nothing against her at all, but centralizing everything around one character is too limiting and they've already established a great cast of characters to use so I'm utilizing them. Everyone is going to have an A-story line episode at some point in my season three. Other changes will be made as well; they may or may not be noticeable. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say I'm utilizing various television techniques and all of the show's potential.

Oh and our darling _Zoey 101_ owner Mr. Schneider also likes to overlook fantastic marketing opportunities. Which age group purchases the most music? That's right, the one this show is targeting, teenagers. Now, _Zoey 101_ did actually put out a music mix, but the problem with it was that it wasn't really a soundtrack (it was a mix, big difference). There weren't songs on it that were highly significant to those beloved moments of popular episodes. There isn't even much music in the show at all. For example, "School Dance" (which only included about fifteen seconds of appropriate music) was a prime episode to have lots of meaningful music, music that could have completely enhanced the story lines, but instead of having real, normal music they mostly used non-descript music that almost goes completely unnoticed. So, instead of only occasionally including non-descript music like the show usually does (with the specific exception of the episode Spring Fling back in their occasionally better days of season one), I'll be including a lot of music. TV shows play music in the background a lot and then compile it on a cd and market a soundtrack earning the show an extra nice little profit. I put in back track music. The lyrics of the part of the songs that should be heard during the particular scene are put in italics in the scene. It's a bit weird because I have to work the lyrics around paragraphs, but you get the general idea. At the beginning of every chapter I'll be detailing all music used that way if you do have it you can get it set up to play when it comes up or if you feel like buying, I always encourage the buying of more music (but don't feel obligated, I just happen to be addicted to music).

At the bottom of every chapter I'll probably have director notes, because I think like that, as well as further marketing ideas and such. My notes at the bottom will also include a teaser of things to come in the following episode. I already have the entire season planned (that's planned, not written). It's going to consist of 24 episodes, that's about twice as many as their actual seasons do, because I simply don't feel that 12 or 13 episodes is a complete season. I'd also like to spread it out over the year like actual shows do. That means beginning in the fall and ending in the spring. This is an extensive project and I have a life, so I actually do need that much time. It's not fall yet, but I'm getting a head start because life happens and sometimes plans in the future may get interrupted so I'm trying to give myself some extra time. Now, 24 episodes spread out from fall to spring actually means that I'd be updating every few weeks, so it'd be more regular than new _Zoey 101_ episodes. Actually according to afairly reliable source_Zoey 101 _won't be having new episodes until January 2007 (in the U.S. at least), so I'll be pretty far ahead of the game, so to speak.

Now, the way I'm thinking of this is that the readers are the viewers and I'm going to have viewer involvement. I'll be asking you to make certain decisions, they won't really be big decisions since the direction of this is already planned out, but I do consider them to be important.

For example; the appearance of the characters. Now, I recently saw a picture of Kristin Herrera, who plays Dana (in the first season and my season at least), where she has short hair and I liked it (it was on her fan site, link on my profile for now)and in my mind this is how she's going to look for the season. If you guys would prefer something else, I'm okay with that. I'd also appreciate your suggestions for all other characters. Personally, I'd like to see Lola with a solid hair color, maybe an auburn, and probably short and similar to Drew Barrymore's in _The Wedding Singer_, but that's just because I think Victoria Justice (Lola) is a little thin and shorter hair would give her face a nice fullness. I'd like to see Zoey blond again as well, but other than that, I don't really have much else (especially for all the other characters). I'd love to know what you guys would like to see and I'll do my best to work in something that more people want.

Okay I also want to add that if I could choose more genres for this story I would. It's going to be light, fun, comical, serious, dramatic, romantic, and angsty. I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make my season three fantastic. I want you to fall in love with it. The first two episodes are good, they lay some much needed ground work, and hint toward the future, but after episode three I hope to have you falling. Who knows, if you love it enough, I do have quite a few thoughts for a season four…

I hope you enjoy my season three, or more accurately our season three because from here on out a viewer is in control.


	2. 1: Here We Go Again

**A/N:** As promised the episode music in order of appearance: "Get Ready" The Temptations, "You're So Damn Hot" Ok Go, and "Middle of Nowhere" Hot Hot Heat.

**Enjoy!**

**Episode One: Here We Go Again

* * *

**

_I never met a girl who makes me feel the way that you do. (You're alright)  
Whenever I'm asked who makes my dreams real, I say that you do. (You're outta sight) _

So, fee-fi-fo-fum  
Look out baby, 'cause here I come.

Zoey paused as she set foot on the Pacific Coast Academy campus again. She looked around taking it all in, home again. She missed her friends in their summer absence from her life, one of them more than she thought was normal. In fact she was scanning the crowd for his bushy head as she took in the scenery. Fate it seemed had always put them together as soon as she got back, but it seemed that this time he was no where in sight. She waited for a minute with the hope that fate would repeat itself again, but she received no such luck. Somewhat disappointed she started her walk back to John Butler Hall for what would hopefully be another great year at PCA, even if it wasn't off to the best start.

_  
And I'm bringing you a love that's true.  
So get ready, so get ready.  
I'm gonna try to make you love me too.  
So get ready, so get ready 'cause here I come. _

(Get ready 'cause here I come) I'm on my way.  
(Get ready 'cause here I come)

* * *

Un-alerted by fate that Zoey had returned, Chase was in his new room unpacking. Another year, another triple room with Logan and Michael, both of whom had yet to arrive.

Or had they?

"Chase, man, you're not taking the good bed are you?" Logan said charging into the room, without any of his belongings.

"Nice to see you too Logan," Chase said as he removed one of his boxes from Logan's bed and put it on the floor by his own bed, "Here, is that better?"

"Yep, gotta have the place ready for the movers to move my stuff in," Logan replied as he plopped down on the couch. "How was your summer? Hair's bushier isn't it?" Logan asked friendlily.

"Nope actually it's exactly the same. My summer was alright though. How about you?" Chase replied collapsing his boxes as he finished his unpacking.

"My summer always consists of the same three things," Logan detailed as he counted them out on his fingers, "Beach, surf, and girls; every summer is a great summer."

"Last one back huh?" Michael said as he entered the room hurtling his stuff on top of his bed.

"Yep, and it's pretty early yet, I thought I'd be here first," Logan replied.

"What's up Mike? How was your summer?" Chase greeted as him and Michael did the traditional guy hand clasp half macho hug thing.

"Good, good. Hey, your hair's bushier isn't it?" Michael asked inspecting it rather closely.

"No! It's actually exactly the same," Chase said as he was getting frustrated at everyone saying it was bushier, even his parents were convinced it was.

"Alright?" Michael said a little confused at Chase's reaction to the question.

Logan's cell phone rang and he took the call outside.

Since they were alone Michael commented figuring Chase out, "You haven't seen Zoey yet, have you?"

"What?" Chase responded faking confused at Michael's direction, it was far too early in the year to start in on this again.

"That's why you're all on edge; no Zoey yet," Michael explained.

Chase was saved from having to answer by Logan returning angrily, "My movers aren't here yet. They're stuck in traffic or something, I'm not really sure, I stopped listening after they said it's going to be a while."

Michael shot Chase a look that said "we will continue our conversation" but Chase changed the subject quickly detailing more about his summer and asking Logan and Michael about theirs.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Lola questioned Nicole as she picked her bags up from where her taxi driver had put them on the curb. Nicole looked confused at the question so Lola explained, "Why should we carry our own bags when we can get a guy to do it for us?" 

"What guy?" Nicole questioned as she let her bags drop back to the ground.

"Any guy. This year I'm looking to meet a nice guy who's considerate enough to offer to carry a girl's bags," Lola detailed.

"So what do we do to find this guy?" Nicole asked scanning the boys wandering around them.

"Wait," Lola replied simply.

Unnoticed to the girls Michael approached from Lola's left, "Hey Lola, Nicole, you guys need help with your bags?"

Lola shrugged and replied, "Sure."

"Hey Chase," Michael called behind him to Chase who came quickly, "the girls need some help."

"Hey guys how were your summers?" Chase asked as he picked up as many bags as he could handle.

"Good," Lola replied simply as Michael finished picking up the rest of their bags and they were off.

"Butler again?" Michael questioned.

"Yeah," Nicole responded.

"What about you Nicole, how was your summer?" Chase asked politely as he tried to prevent one of the bag straps around his neck from choking him.

"Kansas is always the same," Nicole said glumly. She stepped around Chase a bit looking at him carefully and said, "Hey, your hair's bushier isn't it?"

Chase groaned at the question and Michael laughed, but Lola was the one to speak, "Yeah, it definitely looks bushier."

Chase stopped and turned around to face them as he explained frustrated, "It is not bushier. I've actually measured; it's exactly the same as it was last year. Exactly the same!"

As they reached the third floor of Butler Hall Lola directed, "All of my bags are going across the hall from the room Nicole's bags are going to."

"You guys aren't together?" Michael questioned.

"No, I'm with Zoey still, and Lola's with someone that's new, well, new to her," Nicole explained cryptically.

"Ahh! Zoey's here!" Nicole squealed as they entered her double room that she was sharing with Zoey, whose belongings were there, but she seemed to be absent.

Lola ran into her room and yelled to Nicole, "My room has a better view!"

Nicole came running across the hall and the boys who stood in the hall sorting the numerous bags into the different rooms. Out of curiosity they both grabbed a bag of Lola's and took it into her room while they checked out what view could possibly be so great.

Chase and Michael looked at each other puzzled at what was so great about the view, it was just a building, their building actually.

"Why is this a good view?" Chase asked confused.

"Boys dorms," Nicole said simply.

"Yeah, but they're not that close, it's not like you can see anything," Michael pointed out, relieved that it was true.

Nicole left suddenly and came running back in only seconds later with binoculars. "Problem solved," she said as she began scanning the open windows.

"Thanks for the help guys," Lola said as she tried to get Nicole to share the binoculars, not really paying any attention at all to the fact that the guys were there.

Chase and Michael, in unison, replied, "No problem," as they left the girls.

Chase took another quick look in Zoey and Nicole's room hoping that she had suddenly appeared.

"Maybe she's helping Dustin," Michael offered.

Chase didn't respond, but with Michael following headed to see Dustin anyway.

* * *

Zoey was not in fact with Dustin. She had been with Quinn who had been carrying a box that was almost her size and dropped it when she finally got to her room. Whatever questionable chemicals were in it were sending an odor down the hall so Zoey offered to help clean it up, though she was afraid of actually touching any of the substances. 

Zoey came back only minutes after Chase and Michael had left to find some of Nicole's things in their room and some of them still in the hall with some of Lola's things, but no Nicole or Lola, at least not in her room. She quickly found her way across the hall to the two girls who each had one of their eyes glued to one side of the binoculars which were still pointed at the boy's dorms.

"Hey guys," Zoey greeted actually thinking that they would turn around.

"Hey Zoe," they mumbled without moving from their spying positions.

"Okay, what are you looking at?" Zoey asked curiously, because what could possibly have them so entranced that they would ignore her after they hadn't seen each other in months.

"Jack Riely is unpacking shirtless," Lola said with a dreamy sigh.

"Senior, captain of the football team Jack Riely?" Zoey checked.

"The one and only," Nicole replied. "Wanna look?" she offered ripping her eyes away and looking to Zoey.

"Yeah sure," Zoey said with a shrug as she took Nicole's place.

Not able to see without aid, Nicole had an idea, "Zoe do you know if Quinn's here?"

"Yeah she is, she created that stench that you can still smell," Zoey replied succumbing to the same trance that had Lola and Nicole.

"Great, I'm going to go see if she brought her telescope with her," Nicole said leaving unnoticed to the very captivated Lola and Zoey.

* * *

Chase and Michael finally managed to find Dustin after extensive searching. It turned out that he was actually in the same building as them, just a few floors down. 

Actually it was Dustin who came up and found Chase and Michael saying, "Chase, Michael, save me!"

"What? What's going on?" Michael asked the panicked looking twelve year old trying to hide behind him and Chase.

"My new roommate Justin is insane," Dustin said seriously.

"Like Quinn is Quinnsane or like insane asylum insane?" Chase asked trying to get clarification.

"Insane asylum insane," Dustin responded quickly as his eyes darted around the room paranoid.

"Okay, what makes him insane?" Chase asked trying to figure out what was going on.

"You guys come with me and I'll show you," Dustin said, "stay in front of me," he ordered as they walked down the hall to his room. "That! That's it!" He yelled pointing to a cage inside his room. Inside the cage was a hamster.

"It's just my pet hamster, the school does allow it," said a dark haired boy who looked to be Dustin's age.

His sudden appearance caused Dustin to jump and retort, "It's not a hamster it's a beast! I can't live in the same room as that."

"Dude you have to get over your fear of small mammals," Michael commented not helping.

Chase suggested, "Well, if you can't live with it then go to the housing office and petition for a new room."

Since it was clear that Zoey wasn't there and since there wasn't anything else they could do to help Dustin, the boys returned to their room to relax and try to avoid getting in the way of Logan's many movers who had finally arrived.

* * *

"It's room 353 Stevenson Hall, that's the third floor," Logan ordered to the many men assembled around his small moving truck. "You break something it comes out of your pay," he admonished as he hopped back on his skate board. 

_I saw you sliding out the bar._

He was slowly building up some momentum as he skated across the front of the school until he noticed a certain person coming on to campus and in his general direction. He didn't notice that there was a dropped stapler in his path as his eyes hadn't left her. Her pale yellow shirt read, "Danger, High Voltage, Way Too Much for You", and was offset by her black denim miniskirt that showed off her longer looking legs. His board stopped suddenly thanks to the stationary stapler and he was sent forward landing face down on the pavement with a thump.

_I saw you slipping out the back door, baby._

This caused the girl to laugh slightly as she had been watching him too. She approached and commented, "Gosh Logan, I'm gone a year and you've turned into Chase."

_Don't even try and find a line this time, it's fine. Darling, you're still divine._

"Ha ha, very funny," Logan said with a mock laugh as turned himself over to be sitting on the ground. He reached for the object that stopped his board and held it up for her to see before tossing it angrily toward the parking lot. "So, Danger Cruz is back," he commented not really knowing what to say to the stunning girl that was suddenly before him again.

_You don't love me at all, but don't think that it bothers me at all._

Dana smiled at him slightly as she placed her foot on his board just the right way to send it flying up for her to catch it in her hand. She held it out to him and replied with a mischievous smile and a sultry tone, "And she's more dangerous." She dragged her large suitcase after her, leaving him on the ground watching her. She turned around briefly after she had gotten a few feet away and she waved and winked before turning around again and heading to Butler Hall where the rest of her belongings had already been shipped to.

_You're a bad-hearted boy-trap, babydoll, but you're...  
You're so damn hot._

_You're so damn hot. _

_You're so damn hot. _

_You're so damn hot. Oh.

* * *

_

"So you promise I'm going to like this Dana?" Lola asked Zoey and Nicole again as they sat in Lola and Dana's double wondering when she would arrive.

"Yeah, we had our problems at first, but I kept in really good touch with her last year and now I'm so happy she's coming back!" Nicole gushed.

"Hey did you guys tell her about what I did to you at the begging of last year? Do you think I could try out a new character on her?" Lola asked starting to get excited about being able to challenge her acting ability.

"I don't know if I told her," Zoey said trying to think about it.

"I did. I detailed everything that happened throughout the year in my newsletter and she's one of my recipients," Nicole said like it was a completely normal thing.

"You have a newsletter?" Zoey questioned.

"Yeah, my entire family does it to keep in touch. Mine's a weekly because I write about a lot of stuff, but like, my Uncle Red doesn't do much, so his is only a bi-monthly and it's always just about his dog and hunting," Nicole explained, again like their was nothing weird about it.

Lola figured, "Wait, so your entire family basically knows everything that we've all done in the last year?"

"Mm-hmm," Nicole confirmed like it was no big deal.

"This room is going to be really cramped with four people in it," Dana commented from the doorway, but not seriously (she knew they weren't all sharing a room). The girls sprung up and rushed over to her. Dana wasn't really one for hugs, but with going away and coming back, that's all everyone ever seemed to want to do so she had gotten pretty used to it. Though Nicole and Zoey were particularly bone crushing. "Guys, air," she pleaded after as long as she could take.

"Oh my gosh I love your hair! Zoey don't you love her hair? I love her hair," Nicole squealed.

"Calm down Nicole, and let Dana come in," Zoey said as she and Nicole moved out of the doorway allowing Dana to come in. She tossed her bag on her bed and Zoey took control introducing the new roommates, "Dana this is Lola, she lived with us last year while you were in Paris."

Lola extended her hand to Dana, and to Zoey's surprise, Dana shook it friendlily.

Nicole, however, had something else on her mind, "Oh Paris! How was Paris? You never really told me much. Were there cute boys? I bet there were cute boys. Did you or do you have a French boyfriend? Oh, do you have pic-"

Nicole was cut off by Dana's hand being placed firmly over her mouth, "I did not miss the rambling," she said before removing her hand. She continued, "And I already told you the program was all girls and I didn't meet anybody in Paris. The guys all had an ego problem just like a certain PCA jerk. Anyway, I did find a great cheap t-shirt place though and I brought each of you one."

Dana dug through her bag and handed out the shirts. She gave Zoey a pale pink shirt that had a picture of a chick in a cape and crest on it and read, "Super Chick." Nicole's baby blue shirt read, "Don't blame me, I'm having a blond moment!" She even got one for Lola that she picked out based on what Nicole and Zoey had told her. The white tee read, "It's all about ME!"

"This is so true," Lola said holding the shirt up in front of her, "it is all about me."

"I figured you'd like that. I subscribed to Nic's News last year and she goes into a lot of detail," Dana said looking to Nicole.

"I try to summarize," Nicole responded.

"Fourteen pages to describe a single week is not summarizing," Dana argued.

"But reading all of did benefit you, right? I mean, you kind of already know Lola now?" Nicole said trying to find the bright side of things.

"I guess," Dana conceded. "I would have loved to have been here when you pretended to be a guy and messed with Logan and Chase," Dana said to Lola as she relaxed on the couch.

"Yeah that was fun," Lola said thinking about it.

"Going to an all girl's school was horrible. I missed having guys to mess with," Dana admitted. She started laughing a bit before she even got the words out, "Actually I already kind of messed with Logan, it was so fun. I guess no one told him I was coming back?"

Zoey thought for a second before concluding, "No, I guess we didn't."

"What'd you do to him?" Nicole asked excitedly as she joined Dana on the couch.

"Not much. Just the usually sending him mixed signals to mess with his head; it's so hilarious when he gets all confused," Dana said laughing again thinking about how he had looked when she left him.

"I guess no more all girls schools for you," Zoey said motherly to Dana's odd mood.

"Yes, I definitely don't ever want to go to an all girl's school again. Girls can get weird and mean when there are hardly any guys around. They were all really catty over there. I'm so glad I'm back and with normal people," Dana admitted.

"Dana! You're back!" Quinn screeched rushing into the room.

"Semi-normal at least," Dana muttered before Quinn got to her. Quinn began to hug her before backing off suddenly probably remember just who she was going to try and hug and what her previous reactions to such an act would have been.

Dana didn't notice the awkwardness suddenly remembering that she had something for Quinn as well. "Oh I got you a shirt too," Dana said digging through her bag again.

Dana quickly returned holding the shirt out to Quinn as she sat down on the couch again in between Zoey and Nicole. Lola, who was sitting in a chair across from the couch, read the shirt as Quinn unfolded it and smiled.

Quinn had a different response, "I can't wear this…it's…it's" Quinn struggled at a loss for words.

"It's fun," Dana finished for her.

Quinn turned the shirt around toward Zoey, Dana, and Nicole and retorted, "It's not fun. It's…inappropriate." The purple shirt read, "Talk Nerdy to Me!" and the girls busted out laughing when they read it.

"Oh Quinn you have to wear that, it'd be so funny," Zoey begged.

Quinn simply shook her head.

"Come on, it's only a little flirty," Nicole tried to convince.

Dana gave it a shot, "Come on its cute, and I promise if you ever do decide to wear it, on that day I'll wear one that's way worse so it won't look as forward in comparison."

After a few seconds Quinn conceded, "Okay, maybe then. Thanks for it anyway though. I appreciate the thought."

"No problem," Dana responded.

"So you have worse ones than the one you're wearing?" Lola asked causing everyone to take a second look at what Dana's shirt said.

"This is probably one of the mildest ones I have," she said looking down at it. "They all fit my personality so it gets worse," she admitted smiling.

Zoey's cell rang, it was Dustin, he was given a new room and he needed help moving. Zoey departed the girls, who were catching up and returning to the window, and headed for Stevenson Hall.

Finally fate had gotten things right.

As Zoey was approaching the building, Chase came out the front doors. She quickened her pace at the sight of him and smiled. Seeing her smile Chase grinned sheepishly, so nervous that he was only able to take a couple of steps toward her before she had closed the rest of the distance between them.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She said to his back with a sigh, "I missed you."

"Really?" He questioned in an oddly high pitched excited voice.

"Of course," she said letting go and taking a step back, "you're one of my best friends and we haven't seen each other in months. What? You didn't miss me?" Zoey asked getting slightly worried at the thought that he wouldn't miss her.

He wanted to say, "Always," or "Every second", but she said the words that made him think he'd never get to be that honest; she said "best _friend_." Just a friend he responded, "Of course I missed you Zoe. We might have done AIM and the phone to keep in touch this summer, but it still wasn't enough for me to not miss you."

"Good," Zoey commented and realized, "can you help me move Dustin? Then we could catch up more, you could tell me more about that restaurant your parents are opening."

"Ah, yes, it actually opened already, last weekend," Chase said as he held the door to the building open for Zoey.

Walking around him she paused as she entered the door and turned around to face him. She put her hands on the sides of his hair, then one on his chin and the other on the top of his hair. He stood immobile, not breathing, letting her do whatever she wanted even if it was odd. She concluded taking her hands away, "Your hair isn't bushier. It's exactly the same."

Chase was unable to control his wide smile at all as he confirmed, "Yeah, it's exactly the same."

Zoey didn't know what she did to make him so happy, but she was glad that she could do that to him. All of a sudden she noticed how close they were and they were awfully close, and she noticed that she really didn't mind.

Of course as soon as those not so rare thoughts were going through her mind again, Dustin had to go and awaken them from their almost moment as he came into the lounge yelling, "Help!" as the top box in the stack of boxes he was carrying was about to fall off.

Zoey rushed to help him and Chase followed as he would always follow her.

* * *

"Whoa," Michael said upon entering his room. The furniture was different, better, and the entertainment center far surpassed any previous entertainment center they had ever had. Fully stocked with various video game consuls and games, dvds, a stereo, and the biggest screen TV the room could hold (a 60" flat screen). It was like heaven, well for the boys. 

Logan, however, did not seem that excited, especially compared to the previous year, and this year everything was better.

Though Michael thought that with all the new fantastic stuff it was odd that Logan was just laying on his bed staring at the ceiling, he acted normal and said, "Man, I love your dad."

"Uh-huh," Logan grunted in agreement. He got up, turned on the TV, one of the game consoles, and began setting up a game asking, "You wanna play?"

Logan still seemed a little weird, but Michael wasn't going to pass up a game so he just shrugged sitting down and replied, "Sure."

After they had been playing for a few minutes in silence Logan finally said, "Cruz is back."

"Already? What time is it?" Michael said glancing down at his watch. "Oh yeah, I guess she would be back by now. I completely lost track of time today. So how is she?" Michael said refraining from saying what he was actually thinking, because that would be weird. Logan weird because Dana was back? Dana having that kind of effect on him? Nope, too weird for Michael to swallow, but then again, maybe not…

"I don't know it's not like we talk. You knew she was coming back though? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Logan asked like he actually cared.

But, why would Logan care? Michael still couldn't wrap his head around the idea of the possibility of Logan caring about Dana in any way, but he didn't know what else could be going on. He inquired carefully, "Do you actually care…that she's back?"

"No," Logan said quickly, "but I care if I'm being left out of something, and it really seems like I have been."

"Oh, well, I only knew because Nicole told me earlier and Nicole knew that Dana was coming back because they kept in touch. And Chase knew Dana was coming back too because Zoey told him and Zoey kept in touch with Dana. Oh, and Lola knew because Dana and Lola are in a double together this year. So, really, it's kind of just random that you didn't know," Michael explained.

"Alright," Logan said with a shrug seeming back to normal as he added, "as long as you weren't not telling me on purpose, it's all good."

Michael decided his suspicions were truly ridiculous and that there was absolutely no chance what Logan had said wasn't the real reason, because after Michael had explained everything went completely back to normal as they continued to play their game.

* * *

After they had helped Dustin move all of his boxes into his new single room, Chase had a question for Zoey since it was nearing dinner time, "Hungry?" 

"Yeah. Sushi?" She responded.

Chase nodded in agreement and said, "I'll call Michael and Logan, tell them to meet us there."

"I'll call the girls," Zoey said as she took out her phone and dialed.

They walked together as they told their friends the plan.

* * *

By the time they had pushed together tables for them to sit together at, their friends had arrived. 

They ordered and began catching up, each of them glad to be back for different reasons. Though, throughout the conversation Quinn kept marking in a notebook she had brought, but no one bothered to ask her about it. When it came to Quinn and her Quinnventions, ignorance was bliss.

The gang had just been informed of Nicole's newsletter and they had questions.

Michael was first asking, "Nicole, how many relatives do you have that get your news letter?"

"Well, my parents are from large families and counting all the cousins I have and everything, I send out one hundred and twenty seven every week, but I'm thinking of making it a bi-weekly," Nicole said while she pondered.

"Wait, so there are one hundred and twenty seven people out there that know everything that happened to all of us for the past year?" Logan asked trying to get a grip.

"No, there's one hundred and twenty seven addresses, there's more than one person per address usually. And it's for the past two years, not just last year. Oh, actually it's one twenty six now since I don't have to send one to Dana," Nicole explained.

"Yeah, and Logan you should be concerned about people knowing about your year. You know I never thought the day would come when I'd say the girls here seem really smart, with the way they fawned over you first year in all, but you got turned down SO much last year, I guess the girls here really are smart," Dana said with a challenging smile.

"I did not get turned down," Logan retorted angrily.

"Well, I guess that one time, you were just shoved in a fountain, so technically not turned down," Chase teased.

"But that other time you definitely got turned down. It was part of our cheer, remember?" Lola joined in.

"Whatever," was all Logan came up with to respond before trying to change the subject, "but you know Nicole I could sue you for slander. Spreading those kind of lies is damaging to my image."

"Technically since it was in print it'd be libel," Quinn chimed in.

"And technically it isn't libel since libel is false statements written about someone and yours were true, Nicole didn't make it up," Zoey clarified.

"Fine, fine," Logan conceded, "can we just talk about something else crappy from last year now?"

Before anyone could refuse to change the subject, Lola said, "Yes, can we talk about how I should have been in _High School Musical_. The auditions were held like an hour away and I was probably here taking a math test or something completely useless when my destiny was right there waiting for me to find it. But I wasn't there so now those kids get the big break and I'm still here."

"Uh, can you sing?" Chase asked bravely.

"I could learn," Lola said confidently.

Changing the topic Quinn asked, "Hey I have this serum I developed and I need volunteers-"

"No!" they all immediately said interrupting her knowing that whatever she was about to say was going to have bad results, maybe even potentially dangerous ones.

_Don't get mad if I'm laughing _

_Blame the caffeine for all the 5 am phone calls _

_I haven't slept a single night in over a month _

_And not even once did you start to make sense to me _

_Well maybe I'm a little bit slow, or just consistently inconsistent _

_She said, "Unpredictability's my responsibility, baby." _

As they all continued to talk normally enjoying the return of each other's company, it was the beginning of another year at Pacific Coast Academy. Sophomore year; a year that would hold a great deal for the gang of eight.

_But you're waiting at the door where everybody's hanging out just like they hung out before _

_You didn't have to do it but you did it to say _

_That you didn't have to do it but you would anyway _

Zoey looked around at her friends, all acting as their usual selves at the start of a new year and she had one single thought concerning all of it: _here we go again_.

_To give you something to go on when I go off back to the middle in nowhere _

_To give you something to go on when I go off back to the middle in nowhere

* * *

_

**A/N:** Direction Notes: If I was the director I would have had Chase humming "Get Ready" when the scene enters on him unpacking as the music from Zoey's beginning scene fades out, just for some light comical parallelism.

Also, if I owned the show I would make "Nic's News" part of the website. They would be blog type episode re-caps as if written by Nicole, just to draw something out of the show for viewers. I would also market the t-shirts that Dana will be wearing throughout the season, and the one's she got for her friends. Instead of getting a store to sell them though, I'd sell them on-line because this show is popular in various countries and on-line is the best way to service all of the worldly fans.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that **all chapters will be about this length** since each chapter is a complete episode. And if you want my reasoning on how they're in sophomore year, I do actually have a reason for thinking that, so let me know and I'll tell you, even if it's not right.

**Next Episode/Chapter: **The next episode/chapter is titled "Attention Sophomores." The entire episode takes place at an assembly, but I promise it isn't boring and it will end with a surprise announcement that will in turn, make episode 3 very captivating.

Now, I'm leaving on vacation for a bit and actually won't have internet access so I won't be able to update this or anything else of mine you might be reading. And I'm really sorry to anyone who reading my SOR fic _The Ride_, I'm struggling with the tone I want for Ch.2 so it's coming along scarily slow. Again, I'm sorry.

I'd love to know what you think about anything and everything, good or bad, so **PLEASE REVIEW!** I'd love to see my inbox full when I get back:)

**Hope you've enjoyed reading!**

**-Hopeless Romantic 86**


	3. 2: Attention Sophomores

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm thrilled you guys like this story so far. **

**Music** included this episode/chapter (not much could be since they're at an assembly and lots of music seemed awkward): "My Generation" by The Who (though other bands do great versions of it even in other languages), and "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service.

**Enjoy!**

**Episode Two: Attention Sophomores

* * *

**

"Attention sophomores: Today at ten a.m. there will be an assembly in the gym that you must attend. Do not report to your third period classes just go straight to the gym's north entrance where a teacher with a class roster will be waiting to check you off as being present for the assembly. Be sure to have your school ID with you," the voice of Dean Rivers boomed across the campus and in every class room over the school's intercom system at the beginning of the fifth day of classes for the new school year.

* * *

_People try to put us d-down (talkin bout my generation)  
Just because we get around (talkin bout my generation)_

_Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin bout my generation)  
I hope I die before I get old (talkin bout my generation)_

_This is my generation  
This is my generation  
This is my generation, baby  
This is my generation, baby_

At just before ten a.m. Zoey, Nicole, Dana, and Lola entered the still fairly empty gym together and immediately headed to Chase, Michael, and Logan who were seated in the center of the middle row of bleachers. Towards the beginning of the bleachers the girls climbed up and started walking down the middle row as the spaces around their path were quickly becoming filled by the rush of students flowing into the gym.

As they approached the guys, Logan, who was on the end they were coming from, put his legs across their path so that they couldn't continue on. "Sorry ladies, but you've got to pay the toll," he said with a smirk as he turned his cheek to them and pointed at it.

Zoey was in front of the line of girls, which is why Logan knew she'd want to be passing by him to get to Chase on his and Michael's other side. Before Zoey could retort though, Dana walked on the lower bleacher to get in front of Zoey and retort, "What? You want to be hit in the face? Gladly," she agreed as her hand formed a fist and she pulled it back quickly. Zoey immediately held onto Dana's ready to hit something fist preventing her from actually hitting Logan.

"No, you want to pass? You have too kiss me," Logan replied still smirking and presenting them once again with his cheek.

Dana laughed before letting her challenging eyes meet his again and retorting, "And what do you think I'm more likely to do, kiss your cheek or break your jaw?"

Logan's smirk faded as he actually thought about it and concluded, "Okay, you guys can pass this time." He moved his legs and let them by.

Dana turned around as she passed and commented with mock enthusiasm, "You're such a good little doggie! Now let's see…stay, sit, heel, rollover."

Zoey shoved Dana forward further so she could sit down next to Chase as Logan glared at his provoker. He stayed silent, but was clearly contemplating how he would get her back for her latest insult.

As Nicole and Lola came to sit by Zoey's other side with Dana, Zoey greeted Chase with exaggeration, "Hey, wow it took forever to get here."

Chase chuckled and commented, "Yeah, I guess nothing ever changes, but at least the arguments are entertaining, when it's not annoying." Zoey smiled at his Chase like response, but that was as far as she got.

"So what do you think this assembly's about?" Lola asked to the group at large.

"Don't know, don't care," Logan quickly replied.

"Shockingly I agree," Dana muttered only loud enough for the girls to hear her.

"The assembly is to welcome us back and let us know about new things going on this year," Quinn informed popping up behind Zoey and Chase and causing them to jump slightly in surprise.

Michael was the first to question her, "How do you know that?"

Though they expected her answer to be odd because it was Quinn, it wasn't, "I passed by Dean Rivers telling some teacher that on my way in."

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Dean Rivers questioned into the microphone at his little podium. The class of a few hundred replied lazily with a murmur of grunts. "Right, so welcome back to PCA everyone. This year should be an exciting one. We have lots of new developments so let's get started. The sophomore class has a new football coach this year. Please give a warm welcome to Coach Grier." Dean Rivers stepped aside clapping as some students joined in clapping and a large, thick bald man approached the podium.

After getting to the podium and standing in front of the mic, Coach Grier cleared his throat in a very disgusting manner as it sounded like he had something in it of a mucus like nature. Faces of students scrunched up in revulsion. Finally he spoke in a deep voice, "I'm glad to be here at Pacific Coast Academy. I've kept track of the history of this class and this year I'd like to do a few things differently. In an effort to form a better team football tryouts will be mandatory, it will count as part of everyone's gym grade. We're trying to find the best so do your best at tryouts."

"Can girls tryout for the team?" a female voice called out from the bleachers.

"Yes," Coach Grier replied simply but continued quickly seeing the faces of some of the guys in the crowd, "this school and the league we belong to does actually allow co-ed teams. I want the best team possible and if some girls are better than some of the guys I would gladly have them on my team, but it isn't up to me, it's up to how well you play." Noticing Dean Rivers giving him the wrap it up signal Coach Grier concluded, "Again, it's great to be here and I'm looking forward to leading this years team to many victories."

As applause was half-heartedly given to Coach Grier as he left the podium, Chase said sarcastically, "Great, they're making humiliation mandatory this year."

"Come on man it won't be that bad," Michael replied reassuringly, "you're pretty good at other sports, maybe you'll even make the team."

"I don't think football is really for me even if I did make the team," Chase said honestly.

"Ditto," Logan added, "you can't be making out under the bleachers if you're supposed to be playing on the field. Not that any girl would ever make out under the bleachers with you Matthews."

Chase shrugged and replied, "You either Reese."

"Okay thank you Coach Grier," Dean Rivers said upon reaching the podium again. "And continuing on Coach Grier's last note about co-ed teams, all teams will be co-ed, not just basketball this year. We do have a few teachers who would be willing to coach certain sports if the girls do have enough players to form their own team though. Next…girls…first…a…what?" Dean Rivers speech broke over the clearly failing PA system. He inspected the mic for a second and shouted as loud as he could, "We're having technical difficulties stay in your seats and we'll get this taken care of quickly."

The gym was instantly filled with noise as the students all began conversing.

Nicole nudged Dana and informed her excitedly, "Hank Miller is totally checking you out." As Dana was going to turn her head to follow Nicole's line of sight, Nicole quickly said, "Don't look!"

Lola, however, looked and concluded, "Yep, he's definitely checking you out. He's probably trying to read your t-shirt." And she completely meant the double meaning that went over Nicole's head but Dana picked up on immediately. The three pairs of eyes glanced down to read Dana's shirt, which said, "There's a lot more where this came from."

Dana stood up and replied, "Then I should go make it easier for him to read." A coy smile on her face, Dana left the girls and headed down to the boy who looked the part of a burly All-American football player complete with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hey where'd Cruz go?" Logan semi-shouted to the girls seated a few people away from him.

"Hank Miller was checking her out so she went over to flirt with him," Lola replied after shaking the weird idea out of her head at Logan asking her that particular question.

After a second of processing Logan's eyes lit up and he left quickly.

"Okay, I think we have it fixed," Dean Rivers said into the mic without having it fail on him. The loud conversations died down and he continued, "So this next announcement is for the girls. Please welcome your very own classmates Tiffany Moore, Morgan Labass, and Jenna Crester."

Three very impeccable looking girls stepped up to the podium decked out in PCA purple cheerleading outfits. Out of the pretty and perfect appearing girls, the tan blond (Tiffany) took the lead, "As you can tell by our uniforms we are PCA cheerleaders! This is the first year the school is going to have cheer squads since the previous all male population never had one and we girls finally managed to get one organized for every grade."

The blond gave a nod to the strawberry blond girl to her left who was slightly paler and Morgan took over at the mic, "So far we are the only three girls on the squad as we were part of the organizing team that established cheering here at PCA. The squad will have at least six members, but we have permission to have as many as ten." Morgan looked to Tiffany, she clearly gave the okay, and Morgan backed away from the mic.

Tiffany gave the nod to the tan light haired brunette and Jenna took the mic closing their speech, "We will be holding tryouts for the other positions ten days from now. Check out the posters that will be all over campus for the time and location of tryouts. So come to tryouts and show us your school spirit."

Tiffany put her hand on Jenna's shoulder and she left the mic trading places with Tiffany. With a flip of her hair Tiffany claimed the podium again and finished with an alluring smile as she spoke, "Just like Coach Grier we're looking for the best. So if you have talent, if you have spirit, and if you demand attention then you belong with us."

An air of confidence surrounding them, the three girls sauntered away from the podium with moderate applause and a few whistles and hoots from the male audience members.

As Dean Rivers was heading back to the podium there was suddenly a crackling noise over the PA system followed by a loud screech and nothingness. When he approached the mic and tried it out he confirmed that it seemed that the PA system was definitely severely damaged now. He once again yelled to the students for them to stay put and everything would be fixed shortly and the assembly would continue.

"I think I want to try out for the cheerleading team," Nicole said once the sitting and waiting began.

"You'd be good at it, you're defiantly perky," Zoey encouraged.

"You look good in purple too," Lola added.

Nicole shrugged and said, "Yeah, maybe I'll try it."

Glancing around Zoey noticed that there was more than two someone's missing and asked, "Where'd Quinn go?"

"I don't really know," Michael began, "but right after that last sound system blow out she got up and headed toward the entrance where all the teachers and, I think speakers, and the sound system is. She took that notebook with her, the one she's had everywhere lately. Does she know how to fix stuff like that, like the sound system?"

Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, Zoey voiced their collective answer, "I don't know."

* * *

When Logan was approaching he noticed Dana giggle and flirtatiously place her hand on Hank's forearm in response to something he had said. He hadn't really known exactly how he was going to get back at her, not until he had witnessed that little scene and gotten himself a starting point. He sat down on the bleacher behind both of them and barged into their conversation, "Gee Cruz I didn't know that you had a sense of humor, with the way you're always scowling in all."

Of course the comment angered Dana, but she wasn't about to let Logan win so easily. Her smile remained as she replied only briefly glancing to Logan before returning her attention to Hank, "I have a great sense of humor Reese; you're just not funny like Hank."

"Funny looking," Logan muttered into Dana's ear that was on the opposite side that Hank was. Dana's smile widened despite her best efforts, but she didn't laugh, she wouldn't let herself.

Hank, despite the fact that he watched as Logan clearly said something to Dana and not him, did not put two and two together about what the reason for this could be. He also didn't seem to notice the clear disdain they had for each other and asked Logan, "Dude how come you didn't tell me you were friends with such a cool girl? Not to mention incredibly hot. It's not like you to hold out on me."

This was it, the opportunity Logan was waiting for, the moment when he would get back at Dana for her little dog insult. With a completely serious face Logan explained, "Well, Hank, you're a cool guy and I didn't think Dana would be your type since she's a hermaphrodite."

Dana looked like she had been slapped in the face. Her mouth hung open, her eyes were wide, and she couldn't believe that that was what Logan said. She knew that he would want to do something to make her look bad in front of Hank, especially after the dog comment she had made to him early, but implying that she was both a girl and a boy, that was going above and beyond what she had imagined.

Hank's expression, on the other hand, was a bit confusing. It was kind of like he was about to say, "Oh," but wasn't sure if that was the right response.

Logan smirked, satisfied with the immediate effects of his lie.

* * *

"Wow, we're an exciting bunch," Chase said sarcastically after five minutes of silence among the remaining group who had scattered into a circle facing each other.

Zoey sighed and replied, "Well if we actually brought our stuff with us we could be doing homework."

"Only you would do homework to keep yourself entertained Zoey," Lola tried to say as if it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just a fact.

Nicole suggested hopelessly, "It's too bad we don't have dice, we could play a game of confess or stress if we did."

Yet Nicole's comment on the obvious wasn't useless as it spurred an idea with Zoey. "Oh my gosh, Chase we're so stupid," Zoey began because of her revelation. But Chase wasn't catching on with a similar epiphany so she continued, "What is the one thing we always do whenever we're bored or looking for a distraction or for fun?"

The answer dawned on Chase and he replied with a genuine shining smile to Zoey, "Would you rather. I can't believe we didn't think of that earlier, especially since we haven't gotten to play since last school year."

"We played on AIM," Zoey reminded.

"Oh yeah, but it's not the same when we're not really together," Chase blurted without thinking about it. Quickly noticing what he had said he moved on rapidly asking, "So are we going to play?"

"Yes," Zoey declared herself in.

"Sure," Nicole agreed, "we don't have anything else to do."

"Yep," Michael concurred and noticed Lola hadn't responded, but looked like she figured something out almost. He asked, "Lola, you in?"

"Yeah," she said slowly and continued with slight hesitance, "I've never really played though, I think you might have explained it to me once, but I don't remember."

"Really? How could you have not played with us last year we play all the time? Me and Chase play constantly, it's like our favorite game," Zoey questioned.

Resisting a smile Lola replied, "I don't know, I guess I just missed out on that somehow."

Lola looked away from the group for a second as if she was just glancing over her shoulder as she finally let her eyes widen in the response to the revelation she had in front of her friends.

Zoey began explaining the game so Lola turned back around and heard, "So we come up with totally ridiculous scenarios to face off against each other. Chase is so good at them, like I remember once he asked me if I'd rather be locked in a cage with a rabid tiger or lick peanut butter off a hobo's foot. And, of course, since I could only choose between those two insane things I chose the hobo's foot. Get it? Just choose what you think is the least insane choice and we usually say why too. Like I chose the hobo's foot because I think rabies and tiger mauling is worse than anything you could get from licking a hobo's foot, plus I like peanut butter. So, are you ready?"

This time, Lola was greatly struggling to keep her mouth from dropping open and failing. Michael noticed Lola's signs of a revelation and managed to catch her attention and discreetly jerk his head motioning to her that he wanted to say something to her in private.

Finding her voice Lola responded, "Yeah it sound like fun, um…but I'll be right back I've got to go to the bathroom."

Lola quickly stepped her way through people sitting on the bleachers in front of the group and on to the gym floor. She headed toward the bathrooms, which were near the main entrance to the gym, but with a glance back to make sure no one was looking, she ducked along the side of the bleachers and waited.

Michael attempted causally as soon as Lola left, "Um, yeah, you guys get the game started I'll be right back. I'm gonna go to the bathroom too before this whole assembly gets back on track." He also left quickly, ensuring that no one could question him.

Zoey and Chase turned to each other with looks that said, "That's a little weird," but both shrugged and got started on the game.

Michael found Lola easily and looked around to make sure no one saw his path's detour before joining her at the side of the bleachers back near the wall.

"Oh my gosh!" she quietly yelled, "Zoey! Chase likes Zoey! That's the girl he was talking about before not some girl from home."

"No, he doesn't just like Zoey, he's completely in love with her," Michael corrected.

"Well no duh! After months of liking her it would obviously progress into more or just end and it's definitely not over, not with the way he was looking at her and totally blushing when she was saying how great he is at that game," Lola rambled on.

"Actually," Michael interrupted, "it's been over two years now."

"Two years!" she exclaimed in her same hushed tone.

"Yep, since the very first moment he saw her," Michael confirmed.

Lola gaped in silence struggling to find words for a second before saying, "How come no one told me?"

Michael paused before responding, thinking she would catch on, but said after a beat, "Because it's completely obvious."

"Well yeah thinking back on it, it is. I mean the way they're always together. And they have secret things no one understands and their favorite games are the ones they only play with each other. And the way that he was totally not into me and to not be into me he'd have to be completely in love with someone else because there's no other reason for someone not to like me because I'm fabulous and who wouldn't like me? Then there's Zoey and how weird she was acting around me when I was hanging out with Chase, that dorm room was clearly uncomfortable then. And…oh my gosh I'm such an idiot I should have seen it sooner! I can't believe I never put all that together!" Lola concluded rubbing her hands over her face in frustration about her delayed senses.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like you're the last one to know. Zoey still hasn't put anything together," Michael said trying to comfort Lola.

"Put what together?" Nicole asked joining them.

"What are you doing here?" Lola questioned immediately.

"Well with everyone talking about having to go to the bathroom, it made me have to go to the bathroom. You weren't there though. What are you guys doing? What hasn't Zoey put together?" Nicole explained and returned to her first still unanswered question.

Knowing that she knew, Michael responded honestly, "We were talking about how Zoey doesn't know Chase loves her. Lola just figured it out and I was just letting her know she isn't the last one to know."

"Oh, okay," Nicole replied perkily.

"You knew and didn't tell me either?" Lola asked acting overly dramatic about it.

Nicole shrugged and replied, "Well it's kind of obvious, even I've known about it for over a year and a half now."

Gazing through the crowd, Lola asked as she watched Chase and Zoey huddled close laughing and smiling as they played their favorite game, "And all this time and she still doesn't have any idea?"

Following Lola's line of sight to the happy in appearance pair, Nicole replied with slight hopelessness to her voice, "No."

* * *

Dana tried to compose herself and managed to say through gritted teeth, "Hank, don't listen to a word Logan ever says. He's a compulsive liar as a result of spending years trying to get his daddy's attention. I'd love to continue talking to you sometime, more private than this though. I'll see you later." She grasped his arm gently and looked directly in his eyes as she spoke to make sure she had his full attention. With a glance of pure loathing to Logan, she stood up and walked away as normally as she could manage in her state of seething anger.

Logan, of course, followed.

Dana, knowing he was behind her, turned around once they were out of earshot of Hank. With her hands on her hips she attacked, "And he's following again, obedient little doggie aren't you? Too bad all that barking you do can't be comprehended, such a waste of your time."

"It's not my fault the guy couldn't understand simple English," Logan defended.

"You don't understand simple English," Dana quickly rebutted. "But I'm not complaining. Previously obedient little dog just crapped on the carpet, and you know what happens next, you know how the owner breaks him from that habit? He gets his nose rubbed in it, he gets punished. Just wait Reese, you will rue the day you tried to mess with me," Dana threatened getting in his face and dangerously close to him. She turned on her heal and started walking away.

He caught up to her retorting, "What, so you're calling me a dog now and you're my owner? Yeah right, like you have any control over me."

"Who's following who Reese?" Dana replied without turning around to face him. He followed still, coming up beside her she continued, "See, you heal so closely to your owner. Now keep being an obedient little dog and find the nearest freeway and go play on it."

"I'm not following you to be around you, I'm following you to annoy you, there's a difference," Logan replied surprisingly even toned.

"I don't care. Just leave. Get away from me," Dana ordered still not looking at him, just continuing walking in front of the bleachers. The bleachers were very long as the gym was enormous and where she had been sitting at with Hank was way at the other end of the gym, the south wall from her escape to the girl's bathroom at the north entrance. She continued on determinedly despite the fact that he was still there.

He didn't say anything, he just stayed following her knowing it would bother her and he wanted to bother her as much as possible, yet he never bothered to think of why he wanted to.

After only seconds of silence she said, "You know what Reese? You're right. You're not a dog. A dog is a loving creature that actually likes people and listens to its owner and is at least occasionally not everywhere. You're always everywhere and not in a good way. You're more like the devil. Evil and everywhere, taunting and tormenting, taking pleasure in other's unhappiness, you're Satin here to punish us on Earth."

"Dark Prince does sound like a good title if you add hot to it. The Hot Dark Prince, yep that's me, and I do love to see you tormented and taunting you in my hobby. But you've got a hole in your little assessment of who I am, I'm not everywhere," Logan retorted, not disguising the fact that this was something, the tormenting and taunting, that he only did with her, though this fact went unnoticed by the both of them.

Her annoyance clear in her tone, Dana replied, "Well you're still here and everywhere else lately. Like most of my classes and every single meal and every night in the lounge."

Dana's assumptions about him were really starting to get to Logan. If it was just a game, it was just their normal insults it was fine, but she was caring on, convincing them with everything that came to mind. He didn't think and replied instinctively to the attack in a growl of a voice, "I wasn't in Paris."

Dana stopped in her tracks. She let her eyes shut for a brief second as she bit her lower lip. She wasn't expecting anything like that to ever be said and she definitely didn't want to deal with it. In the most even, emotionless tone she could manage she replied simply, "No, you weren't."

"What?" Logan asked quickly. He wasn't expecting her to agree, he didn't even know where his statement came from in the first place so he was completely confused at the entire direction everything was taking.

Dana turned around to face him and explained in an unrevealing tone, "I can't argue with that. You weren't in Paris." Logan still seemed confused at the sudden turn of their fight and so was she. She didn't like things the way they were so she continued quickly getting back on track, "So you _weren't_ the devil because you _weren't_ everywhere, but you are everywhere now, like you're still here, so your ascension to the thrown as Dark Prince was recent."

Glad to be somewhere that he recognized, Logan played along. "Hot Dark Prince," he corrected.

Dana scoffed as she turned around to continue her path to her escape, "Maybe according to you, but really, you pale in comparison to a lot of guys at this school. You should really keep your blinds shut; no one wants to look at you."

"Except you since you just admitted to having looked. I know you want me Cruz, but really, using binoculars to spy on me in my room through my window, that's verging on stalker, I could have you arrested," Logan replied with a cocky smirk.

"Yeah, when my eyes accidentally pass over your window, I vomit at your sight and move on quickly to someone much easier on the eyes, like Hank Miller. Nothing says I want you like vomit. Now go away already!" Dana finished angrily, annoyed at his continued presence.

"I'll leave when you admit you want me," Logan taunted.

Dana let out a screech of frustration.

* * *

Zoey and Chase hadn't noticed that their friends hadn't returned from the "bathroom" in over ten minutes, they were too busy enjoying their favorite game with their favorite person to play with.

"Would you rather…" Zoey began but trailed off noticing her friend's very public display of their typical bickering.

Chase had been looking at her attentively, expectantly, but when she paused he followed her gaze to their friends and watched.

"Get away Satan! I repent you. Go torment someone else," Dana yelled beyond frustrated with Logan.

"But you keep lying so I must torment you for that grave sin. Now just admit you want me and I'll be on my way," he countered as he stepped in front of her blocking her path.

"I'm not lying, I don't like you!" she yelled in his face before stepping around him and continuing on.

He followed again.

With their friends' scene leaving from their view, Zoey got back on track with the game still staring out at the spot they once were, "Would you rather be Dana or Logan in a fight?"

Chase thought for a moment and asked, "Um…physical or verbal fight?"

"Physical," Zoey quickly replied looking at him now.

"Then I'd rather be Dana because she's strong and angry and Logan has more sensitive areas," Chase decided. He looked to Zoey and asked, "What about you? Which one would you rather be?"

"For physical, I'd rather be Dana too, for the same reasons, but for verbal I don't know. They're pretty equally matched verbally," Zoey answered as she leaned into Chase slightly more to make sure he could hear her over the roar of students.

Chase's breath hitched a bit at Zoey's close proximity, but he tried not to let it show that it got to him as he responded, "Yeah, in a verbal battle I'd have to say I'm undecided too."

There were only inches between them and suddenly the noise of the crowd seemed to die down. It was just them; nothing else existed except them and their proximity. In the staring solitude, silence and difficulty breathing consumed them.

The sound system boomed again and broke them from their enchantment.

Getting back on track, Chase cleared his throat and pushed past the awkwardness of addressing their previous state by asking, "So, would you rather have toes for fingers or fingers for toes?"

Zoey smiled and pondered, "Hmm…"

* * *

"How is my t-shirt inappropriate? It's true, there is more where this came from," Dana retorted to Logan as she gestured to herself and they approached their huddled friends at the end of the bleachers. "Maybe this t-shirt wouldn't be accurate on you, but on me it works. Actually I did see a shirt that, if I liked you at all, I would have gotten for you. It said, 'Dropped on my head as a child.'"

"You were dropped on your head as a child Cruz? Well that explains a lot," Logan quickly spun the attack around.

"That's not what I said idiot. There's really no point arguing with you since you don't posses the brain cells to listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth," she fought back.

"I don't listen because talking doesn't put your mouth to its best use," Logan retorted with his cocky grin as he stepped closer to her staring her directly in her eyes in full on challenge.

"Will you two please be quite? You're drawing attention to us," Lola interrupted with a brief glance back to them before returning her attention to Chase and Zoey.

Dana and Logan quickly jumped apart increasing the space between them. Taking their cues from their friends they looked to the crowds and spotted Chase and Zoey sitting closely together enjoying their favorite game with each other.

"Why are we watching Ducky and Andie?" Dana questioned.

"Oh, watch out she can reference eighties movies," Logan commented earning him being hit in the arm by Dana. He gritted his teeth, but did not let himself show that it hurt.

Michael replied, "Lola just realized Chase loves Zoey."

"And you've been here a year? What, did you let Quinn do experiments on you last year and it made you unable to see the obvious?" Logan insulted.

Dana kicked him in the shins and he let out a loud, "Ow," before she explained, "Every time you say something mean you're getting kicked in the shins." Dana then kicked him again.

Logan screamed another "Ow," and whined, "I didn't say anything!"

"But you deserved it anyway," Dana replied and looked to Lola who gave her an appreciative nod.

"The sound system can't be fixed right now, but they came up with a solution, we should be continuing soon," Quinn said popping up behind them with her notebook in her hand. She opened it up and began scribbling things down as she asked, "What are you all doing over here watching Chase and Zoey?"

"I don't know," Lola said with a sigh, "I guess just waiting for something more."

_I tried my best to leave_

_this all on your machine_

_but the persistent beat_

_it sounded thin upon the sending. _

Lola's words seemed to express a feeling they could all identify with as they looked on at their seemingly happy friends. They were all just waiting. Some knew exactly what it was they were waiting for and some could never imagine that thing that they wanted so desperately, but knew nothing of.

_and that frankly will not fly_

_you'll hear the shrillest highs_

_and lowest lows with the windows down_

_and this is guiding you home. _

Chase and Zoey sat in a world by themselves as they appeared to be having the time of their lives, unnoticed by the hoards of high school sophomores surrounding them except for their on looking friends.

_they will see us waving from such great heights_

_"come down now" they'll say_

_but everything looks perfect from far away_

_"come down now" but we'll stay _

Carrying a small amp with a microphone attached, Dean Rivers walked up to the podium, hit a switch on the amp as he set it down, and said into the mic, "Quite please! As you can see the sound system still isn't working, but we managed to use part of the karaoke system from Sushi Rox to wrap this up. Since we're don't have much time left all other announcements about changes this year will be given to you in your home room in the form a flyer, read it or be uninformed. So, to conclude today's assembly we have your sophomore class president to welcome you back and tell you about what he has planned for the year. Give a warm welcome to Mark Del Figgilo."

Mark unenthusiastically made his way to the podium in the midst of applause that was mostly from Quinn and took the mic from Dean Rivers who exited the front of the assembly. After a short beat of silence Mark said slowly in his monotone voice, "Welcome back sophomores. As your sophomore class president, I resign." He then gave the _Star Trek_ live long and prosper hand gesture, which was returned by a couple students, and exited both the podium and the gym all together.

_they will see us waving from such great heights_

_"come down now" they'll say_

_but everything looks perfect from far away_

_"come down now" but we'll stay _

Everyone sat in surprised silence. Even Dean Rivers hadn't moved for that was not what he had in mind for the speech. Quinn appeared to be the most surprised of all as her mouth hung open in utter shock.

_they will see us waving from such great heights_

_"come down now" they'll say_

_but everything looks perfect from far away_

_"come down now" but we'll stay_

Now, thanks to Mark's unexpected words, things would not stay the same. Changes were certain for the gang of eight, but what the changes would hold; only time would tell.

* * *

**A/N: Director Notes:** This last bit where the music plays after Mark's few words I would let the camera linger on both Chase and Zoey and the rest of the group that were standing by the end of the bleachers. I would not, however, suggest who the changes would be for with who the camera lingers on, instead including them all and leaving it a mystery.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the Ducky/Andie comment was in reference to _Pretty In Pink_, a classic eighties movie staring Molly Ringwald.

**In response to comments:** Some people have asked if I'm involved in the making of the next season and just to clarify, no I'm not. If I was I wouldn't be on here. I'd love to be their writer, but I'm just a college student that's probably going to end up being a teacher and who has a writing hobby and a sugar addiction.

It was also brought to my attention that the date I have for the new real season starting is way off and I apologize for that. I checked with a very reliable source right before I posted that, but with in days of doing so they changed to the date everyone has been telling me. Sorry, I guess I said that a little pre-maturely. I think the new start date for new episodes is September 24th.

As music will be frequently included throughout this fic, I appreciate any suggestions you'd like to make. Please understand though, that something may not fit the direction of the story since it is all planned out, or something you suggest may work for something, but something else may also work better. So, though I would appreciate any suggestions, especially since personally I'm always looking for something new to listen to, but what you suggest may not be used if it proves to not be the best fitting song I can find for a moment. And some moments when music could be used, it won't, because silence is very powerful (i.e. take the silence in the season two finally of _The Office_ U.K. version, the Dawn and Tim moment was unforgettable or all the silences of Pam and Jim in the U.S. version of _The Office_, or the silence between Chase and Zoey in this very chapter).

Oh, and I'm a complete dork, so when I was trying to picture all the girls' hair color, for future description mostly, but basically so I could just have a reference point in my head, I actually went to the Loreal Paris Couleur Experte website and picked out colors for the girls. If you want to get the same image of their hair that's going to be in my head then go to the link on my profile which will take you to the Couleur Experte website, click on enter here, then product info and demo, then choices and you can find the shades in the different categories. The main cast color's are all like their colors already just a little warmer and a little more popping to ensure color not coming off as flat. I see Zoey in Dulce De Leche, Dana already seems to be pretty close to Praline, Nicole in Chocolate Macaroon for a little highlights to her hair, and Lola in Butterscotch because I'm tired of yellow and red in her hair and I think it would look cute on her. Also, if you want a better picture of the hair I was very minimally describing for the three cheerleaders, I see Tiffany as having Toasted Coconut, Morgan as Apricot Nectar, and Jenna as Almond Rocca. I know I'm weird for actually doing this and even weirder for actually telling you about it, but what can I say? I like weird, in general it's more fun.

You may also notice that the characters seem more mature, well they are, that's what getting older brings. This show was originally aimed at a tween audience, but as the characters get older that's just not possible. The way to get people hooked on something is to get them to care about it, to get them to identify with it and having the character's act younger than their age to keep the same target audience just isn't believable. I think that this will still be enjoyable for tweens, but since the characters are maturing it will now be open the enjoyment of all teens and therefore the audience's demographic is actually increased. Wider age range appeal equals increase in the number of potential viewers and therefore increase in viewers.

**Next Episode/Chapter:** The next episode/chapter is titled "Re-Election" and it will feature a little "Oh La La", references to _Fast Times At Ridgemont High_, football tryouts, a dirty race, and an ending to leave you in want.

**Side note:** In case any of you are reading them I just wanted to let you guys know that I am working on all my other stories as well and I do plan on updating them as soon as possible.

**Thank you for reading and PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you thought!**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**-Hopeless Romantic 86**


	4. 3: ReElection

**A/N: First, Thank You so much to all the people who reviewed last chapter! And secondly, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I have been eager to get this out, but I had to move back to and start school and deal with my landlord who, put simply, is not the brightest crayon in the box so dealing with her has been a hassle. Again, I'm sorry.**

On the bright side, this chapter is very very long. You'll probably thing that it's too long, but I can sacrifice nothing, it all needs to be in here at this point to be complete. I have a feeling a lot of you will like it anyway though.

**Music:** Not a lot again this time, but the silence is good, purposeful. But the songs included are "Ooh La La" by Goldfrapp and "Out of My Mind" by James Blunt.

I'll stop rambling and let you get started on the long chapter. **Enjoy!

* * *

**

The weekend had passed uneventfully. Nicole put out another newsletter, Logan continued to make comments that earned him kicks in the shins from Dana, Quinn kept scribbling in her red notebook, and Lola watched Chase and Zoey in their normal friendly state with a new attentiveness while Michael wondered what she could be looking for.

When Monday came and classes began the gang was instantly reminded of the events of the fateful previous Friday. They were sitting in pairs in Mr.Bender's homeroom, which they all had together thanks to them talking him into letting them all in his class. Nicole sat with Zoey across the aisle from Chase and Michael. Logan was stretched out on the two seats behind them until this particular morning for it was Quinn's first day in homeroom with Mr. Bender. She had been in another class with Mark, but switched suddenly. The girls figured something was up, Zoey and Nicole turning around to exchange glances with Dana and Lola behind them as Quinn took the empty seat across from them next to Logan. The girls were about to ask Quinn why she switched when Mr. Bender started class, "Good morning everyone."

"Good morning Mr. Bender," a few replied coherently as they liked Mr. Bender, while other's who were already half asleep grumbled the greeting.

"We have some business today, a few announcements as a result of the interrupted assembly from Friday," Mr. Bender began as he took as stack of papers and began passing them out. Once everyone had one of the papers in their hands he continued, "Since I know you won't read these on your own I'll summarize for you. Since all of you will be turning sixteen at some point this year there is information on here on what you need to do if you plan on obtaining a California driver's license, but if your home state is else where you may not want to get your license here, but that's an issue you should discuss with your parents. If you do obtain a license here and you get a car during the school year consult this sheet on how and if you can obtain a parking space on campus before bringing a vehicle here for you may not be allowed to if there's not space or if you do not meet all the requirements. Due to scheduling conflicts the cheerleading tryouts will not be held in ten days as previously announced. Instead tryouts will be two weeks from last Friday in the gym at four P.M. Guys football tryouts are on this Wednesday at three P.M. on the football field and girls tryouts are on next Wednesday. Remember that tryouts are mandatory and your attendance to them is part of your physical education grade so be sure to go to them. Our last order of business you won't find on your fliers. As a result of Mr. Del Figglio resigning before appointing any of his other student government staff your class has to have a re-election. Voting will be held this Friday and nominations will only be taken today until the end of homeroom period. Does anyone have any nominations?"

"I nominate Logan," Chase said quickly raising his hand in the air nominating the person who ruined his campaign the previous year.

"I second," Michael said catching on to Chase's angle of revenge.

Mr. Bender was a bit taken aback at how quickly and eagerly Logan was nominated, but following procedure he concluded, "Okay, it looks like you're in the race Logan."

Logan shrugged and smirked confidently as he said, "I'll be president then."

Mr. Bender ignored the comment and asked again since class time remained, "Are there any other nominations?"

With a mischievous smile Lola raised her hand and said, "I nominate Dana."

Dana immediately turned to glare at her roommate as Nicole said excitedly, "I second."

As Nicole received Dana's menacing glare, Mr. Bender concluded, "Okay, Dana I'll add your name to the race. Anyone else?" No one spoke this time the question was asked so Mr. Bender concluded, "Okay then you have five minutes until class ends, I'm going to call the office to let them know our nominees and you guys can talk quietly until we're out of here."

Mr. Bender went to his desk and called the office as talking amongst the students erupted.

"Why did you nominate me?" Dana quickly questioned Lola.

As Zoey and Nicole turned around in their seats to join the conversation Lola explained, "I know none of us want Logan to be president and you were the only one I thought of who could take him on and win."

"Yeah, you verbally beat Logan into submission better than anyone else," Zoey agreed.

Dana smiled at the compliment a bit proud, but her smile quickly faded as she spoke her concern, "But this isn't about me being able to stump Logan. This is a high school election, it's a popularity contest, and I don't like people and they don't like me."

Lola hadn't thought of how to deal with that yet and stayed silent at the raised issue. Zoey also didn't respond as she hadn't come up with anything to say. Nicole scanned the room as she desperately tried to find something to say to fill the silence and landed on something that she didn't realized how helpful it'd be. She came across Hank Miller staring in the direction of Dana in the back corner of the room, a few tables behind Logan, and said, "Hank Miller likes you."

Lola's eyes lit up with an idea thanks to the statement and she said confidently, "I know how we're going to make you beat Logan." Dana raised an eyebrow in curiosity and Lola continued, "Do you have any objections to using your feminine wiles to win?"

"No, not at all," Dana replied quickly liking where Lola's idea was going.

"Wait," Zoey said disapprovingly. She looked to Dana and spoke in a motherly concerned tone, "Dana I thought you believe in feminism, how could you seriously be considering what Lola's suggesting? You wouldn't actually…" Zoey struggled to find the right word and settled on, "flirt to win?"

Dana sighed and explained trying not to get annoyed at the constant mothering of one of her best friends, "Well since sixty five percent of our class is male, yeah, I don't have a problem flirting to win. I'm not good at being friendly and nice, but flirting I can do. And yes, I believe in lots of feminist beliefs. But here following feminist beliefs doesn't get me anywhere. This is me versus Logan. He's unexplainably popular and he has no moral boundaries. So I'll start wearing my most flattering outfits and whatever else I need to, with in reason, to get every guy's vote, because there are more guys in our class than girls and this is my one way to win. So if we want a girl, me, to be president instead of that chauvinist then I don't have a problem letting my body be my campaign." Noticing that Zoey still wore a slightly disapproving look Dana comforted, "Don't worry I'm not going to do anything too far. No stripping, kissing, or making out for votes. I won't be taking things past PG, I swear."

"Okay," Zoey conceded as her face visibly relaxed, "good luck then, I hope you win. But I don't think I'll be helping you with your campaign. After last year I've definitely had enough of that stuff and I don't think I should get involved again."

Zoey had glanced at Chase as she spoke, which did not go unnoticed to the girls. Hoping that this was something Zoey was doing trying to protect her friendship with Chase and therefore hopefully a sign as something more, the girls were understanding and told her it was okay and she definitely didn't need to be put through another election.

Meanwhile Logan had quickly figured out Chase's angle. As soon as Mr. Bender had picked up his phone Logan said to Chase who had turned around and smirked at him, "Nice try Matthews, but nominating me only gets me as your president."

"I wouldn't be so sure Logan, especially since Dana is your competition," Chase provoked.

Logan chuckled and replied doubtfully, "Please, like Cruz is competition."

"Whatever Logan," Chase said dismissively.

"You guys will be helping me right?" Logan asked expectantly.

Chase shook his head and replied, "You couldn't pay me enough to get involved in another school election."

"You could, however, pay me enough for my assistance so start offering," Michael said in a business like manner. Chase shot him a look of surprise and Michael explained, "What? I don't want Logan as president, but I am strapped for cash so I do have my price."

"Every man does," Logan stated.

"Not everyone," Chase countered and glanced at Zoey as he thought he saw her look at him through the corner of his eye, but when he looked to her, her back was still turned to him, huddled in conversation with the girls.

"Sure," Logan conceded disbelievingly. He quickly move on to the matter at hand, "Michael for your services of helping me campaign I'll pay you twenty bucks a day."

Michael pretended to weigh things out as he thought, "Twenty a day or you as president for a year. Hmm….nope not worth it."

"Fine, fifty, fifty a day," Logan quickly raised the offer.

This time Michael didn't bother thinking twice he agreed, "Yep, that'll be good. You have yourself a campaign assistant."

"Welcome to the winning side," Logan said extending his hand. Michael shrugged, accepting the fact that he was going to help Logan despite not wanting him to win but ultimately figuring Logan would win anyway, and shook his hand.

Quinn sat beside Logan staring off into space silently in a very un-Quinn like fashion until now when she turned to Logan and said, still very out of character, "I'll be compiling nominee standings again. I'll tell you yours anytime you want, but this year I'll have to charge a price."

While Chase and Michael exchanged unsure glances about Quinn's unexpected behavior, Logan eagerly asked, "How much?"

"Three hundred dollars," Quinn replied firmly.

Logan immediately figured that he'd be the only nominee who'd be able to afford Quinn and would therefore have an edge. Yet he still asked, "And I'll be able to always know where I stand vote wise?"

"Yes," Quinn replied quickly.

Logan took out his wallet and counted his money until he got, "Three hundred," he finished giving it to Quinn.

Quinn quickly put the money away and returned to staring blankly for a second before Dana interrupted her thoughts saying, "Hey Quinn?"

Snapping back to reality Quinn turned to Dana across the aisle and responded, "Yeah."

Dana asked nicely, "Can you please help me out knowing who's voting for who like you did for Zoey last year?"

"Sure," Quinn immediately agreed catching Logan's attention.

Logan was quick to ask, "Wait, what about her fee?"

With a glance to Logan, Quinn replied, "That was only for you."

Though they were concerned at Quinn's very atypical behavior, the gang did find it very amusing as they were smiling excitedly at the direction of the conversation.

Logan questioned slightly perplexed by everything, "Then what about my money?"

"You won't miss it," Quinn quipped causing the others, with the exception of Logan, to break out laughing at Quinn's new attitude toward Logan.

Logan was silent, surprised at the new attitude, and somewhat appreciative since she had smartly talked him in to paying her for something that she already going to do.

Getting off the phone, Mr. Bender interrupted anyone from commenting on Quinn's new found attitude by announcing, "Logan, Dana, there are three other people who will be in the race with you: Jocelyn Moyers, Mario Garcia, and Annie Wu." The bell rang, preventing him from saying anything further as students hurried out the class room; Quinn was the first to leave.

Zoey, Nicole, and Lola rushed after her, but Dana was detained by Logan, "So Cruz it looks like-"

"You're not important enough for me to talk to right now," Dana said cutting him off and hurried after the girls to see what was going on with Quinn.

Dana quickly caught up with Zoey, Nicole, and Lola to be informed that they had lost Quinn somewhere in the hoards of students packing the hall and they didn't know where she would be heading because none of them remembered what her next class was.

No one had classes with Quinn for the rest of the morning, so by the time lunch came they still had no idea what was going on. They saw her sitting at a table by herself with her laptop. Logan had dragged Michael off somewhere to discuss all the things that needed to be done to ensure he won, but Chase had stayed with the girls. Or at least he thought he was eating with them as usual, but then before they approached Quinn's empty table Zoey suggested that Quinn may feel more comfortable to open up with just the girls. Chase nodded in understanding, a slight frown of disappointment on his face, which the girls noticed, but still not Zoey.

Wanting to play the part of matchmaker, Lola piped in before Chase left them, "Hey, you know what, we're all going to be busy later helping with the campaigns so maybe you guys should hang out, you know so we don't all feel guilty for ditching you guys to leave you by yourselves."

Zoey smiled and said simply, "Sure." Chase shrugged trying to seem casual, but failing due to the large grin he was trying to resist spreading across his face. Zoey did notice that he was smiling now whereas he hadn't been before, but she still failed to wonder why and connect the proper dots. She suggested, "So I'll see you in the girls lounge at three?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Chase replied before leaving them to their girl talk, feeling suddenly light hearted and hopeful.

The girls sat down at Quinn's table but she continued to tinker away with her laptop. Being bold and impatient, Dana reached across the table and quickly and forcefully shut Quinn's laptop. She looked up but didn't protest.

Her insistent silence made it clear that she wasn't going to just offer any information, so Zoey began concerned, "Quinn did something happen?"

She didn't respond so Nicole continued, "You haven't been acting like yourself. Actually you've been acting more like Dana," to which Dana shot Nicole a slight glare.

But Dana wasn't seriously angry and she continued, offering Nicole's point, "We're worried about you. Did something happen with your family? Someone in a class? Mark?"

Dana had guessed right and Quinn sighed conceding, "I knew it was coming anyway, but I just…I didn't expect it to be like this."

Still not quite sure what she was talking about, Lola asked delicately, "So what happened?"

"You saw it," Quinn replied to their confusion. She explained, "The assembly on Friday, Mark resigned. He just quit out of no where. Supposedly we've been going out for over a year and he didn't even tell me. Then I started thinking about what else he hasn't told me and I thought back to past conversations and our summer e-mails and it turns out that he never tells me anything about himself. The only reason I know anything about him is from me having to practically interrogate him just to learn his blood type. And then I noticed that I'm always the one who wrote to him or asked him out or made any of the effort. And I knew that we weren't compatible because I finally did get one of his nose hairs toward the end of last year and testing told me that. But I still liked him and cared about him and I knew that the test results meant that it wasn't going to be forever, but I at least thought he cared."

Giving her a pause to calm down a bit her rant, Nicole asked, "So you ended it?"

"No," Quinn said shaking her head solemnly, "I decided I wouldn't speak to him to let him know that I'm mad at him for…always taking and never giving anything to our relationship, for keeping me in the dark about his life and I would let him come to me this time. So I didn't talk to him all weekend and he still hasn't bothered to try and see me. I thought that I might give it a second chance if he noticed that I'm not there trying to be a part of his life, and if he wanted me back, but he hasn't so…"

"He doesn't deserve you," Zoey comforted, putting an arm around Quinn's shoulders and pulling her into a half embrace.

"Don't even bother breaking up with him, just start filling your time with everything but him and eventually he'll get the hint that he's not important enough for you to spend time with anymore," Dana advised.

Zoey looked a little concerned at the advice and began, "Well,-"

But was promptly cut off by Lola, "That's a great idea actually. If he's been acting like he doesn't care, or if he doesn't care, then you shouldn't either. And actually if he hasn't really been acting like you're together, then you breaking up with him would be giving him the satisfaction of knowing that you thought you were together and that you wanted to be with him, and he doesn't deserve that."

"Oh, okay, I get it," Nicole said suddenly, "if he didn't want to actually be with you then you shouldn't want to be with him, and even if you do, you can't let him know that because a guy that doesn't care about you shouldn't have the ability to break your heart."

Zoey jumped on the bandwagon and didn't argue with the advised technique for handling, instead comforting, "And your heart will be fine because like you said your test told you, he wasn't the one."

"No he's not," Quinn said thoughtfully. She stood up, picked up her laptop and lunch tray, and said, "Thanks guys. I think I'll take your advice and throw myself into keeping busy. I'm going to go get started on the campaign data and I'll see you later to help out because I really don't want Logan to win."

The girls laughed and Zoey added trying to be helpful, "And Quinn if you need more to keep you occupied besides the campaign you can hang out with me and Chase. I don't know what we'll be doing, but since neither of us want to get involved with the race we were going to hang out and you're welcome to join us."

Though the other girls were all shooting her very talkative looks, Quinn didn't need to pay attention to them to know what they were trying to say, and she happened to agree so she replied, "Oh, well I actually have a few experiments I'm in the middle of and then the campaign, so thanks for the offer, but I really do have a lot to do."

"Okay," Zoey replied obliviously.

After a beat of silence passed as they started in on their lunches, Nicole brought up a concern, "Is it kind of weird that Quinn is the only one of us that's had a boyfriend here?"

The girls paused in their eating and considered it for a second. But not giving in to self conscious thoughts that there could be something wrong with them and right about Quinn they all shrugged and Zoey replied with the consensus Lola and Dana were also thinking, "Nah, it's just a random thing. We've had bad luck while she did have good luck."

Nicole seemed to accept Zoey's answer and seemed reassured, but then she questioned, "Yeah, but she's also been in a relationship longer than any of us have."

Lola spoke up this time replying, "I think that's just luck again. She met someone who was a better match for her than any of the guys we've met have been for us." Of course Lola didn't think that this was true for all of them, but definitely herself. She knew better than to think that for all the girls at the table.

Nicole seemed comforted, no longer thinking that there must be something wrong with them and the rest of lunch passed with talk of celebrating Dana's victory over the weekend, since the girls were planning on winning, but didn't want to discuss strategy with Zoey there since she wanted to stay out of it.

When the last class of the day finally came around Chase, Zoey, Logan, and Dana were sitting scattered in alphabetical order across their English class. In the last few minutes of class an announcement was made over the intercom that informed of Jocelyn Moyers and Annie Wu's withdrawal from the sophomore class president race. 

Annie Wu was fairly popular. She played softball and ran cross country and she was in many academic clubs. She was friendly and nice and lots of people liked her. And as smart as she was she knew that though people liked her, more people liked Logan. She didn't see the point in continuing in a race she didn't think she'd win, so she withdrew upon hearing he was a fellow nominee.

Jocelyn Moyers did not care that Logan Reese was a fellow nominee or any of the other people for that matter. She didn't like PCA, she didn't like getting involved in things, and she didn't want to be in the election, let alone president. She was shocked when she heard she was nominated and figured it was some attempt at a cruel joke by her roommate who she didn't get along with. She withdrew from the race eagerly.

After the news of the withdrawals was announced the bell rang announcing the end of classes for the day. The group of friends gathered in the hall outside the class room and Logan proceeded to be his usual self, "You might as well withdraw too Cruz since there's no chance you're going to win with me as your opponent."

Smirking Dana countered, "Please, you're the one without a chance at winning, you can't even dress yourself. Your shoe was untied this morning and it's still untied." Logan looked down to his feet which caused Dana to break out in hysterical laughter, quickly joined by Chase and Zoey when they noticed why Dana was laughing and Logan was angry. Logan was wearing sandals, Rainbow flip flops actually, but he looked down for an untied shoe anyway. Calming down Dana managed to say, "I can't believe you looked. Winning is going to be so much easier than I thought."

She told Chase and Zoey that she'd see them later and walked away before Logan could even get out more than sputtering of response. He stormed away angrily feeling like he was always getting defeated lately, and it was always by her.

With their friends gone their attention was turned to only each other. Chase tried not to sound too happy about their situation as he said, "So I'll go back to my room and get the rest of my books and I'll see you in a few minutes."

"How did you know that I'd want to do homework?" Zoey asked slightly surprised. Ever since the two of them hanging out had been mentioned she knew that the first thing she wanted to do was homework. She didn't like procrastinating at all. She liked to get her work out of the way and then enjoy any free time she had left.

"Hmm…" Chase said pretending to think, copying "The Thinker's" pose, "maybe because I've known you for two years and I know you're not doing anything else until homework is out of the way."

Zoey smiled, she liked that he knew her so well, but she suddenly wasn't thinking the same, "Okay, Nicole's helping Dana so my room will be empty so we can just work in their. And maybe we could break that homework first rule and take a break to play would you rather or watch TV or something."

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there in a couple of minutes," Chase said smiling at her, glad to here that something was maybe changing. Zoey didn't notice it, of course, but Chase's smile made hers grow and a light blush to come over her cheeks. Chase, as normally attentive as he is, also didn't notice this encouraging development for he hurried away so he could hurry back to Zoey.

* * *

Michael, after much searching, found Logan in their room playing video games, but that wasn't what he expected. Michael assumed that Logan would want to start making sure he was going to win so he asked, "Uh, is this really what you should be doing right now? Don't you want to win?" 

Logan didn't take his eyes off of the screen as he replied, "I am going to win. We sent the picture to the printer; the posters will be ready in the morning. You'll post a few of those around and I'll win."

"What about all the stuff you did to win last year?" Michael asked somewhat confused at the lack of things being done to win.

"That was so Chase could win, he needed lots of help. Everyone already knows me and likes me so they're all already voting for me. I'm going to win," Logan replied cockily.

Michael couldn't help but ask, "What about Dana?"

The character Logan was playing as took a hit in the video game at the mention of the name of the person who always seemed to one up him lately, "Well obviously she's going to lose, everyone likes me and no one likes her."

"No one except every guy," Michael muttered, but loud enough so that he knew Logan heard him.

"Huh?" Logan asked distractedly as he tried to concentrate on winning his game.

He knew that this had the potential to be a touchy subject, but Michael explained anyway curious as to what reaction it would receive, "Dana's hot, every guy knows it and that's reason enough to vote for her and you know there are more guys in our class than girls."

With a loud explosion Logan's character was killed, "Game Over" flashed across the screen as Logan cursed under his breath. He took a second to consider Michael's words before saying, "Well she may be hot, but once she open's her mouth her personality's going to send every guy running."

Concerned that his friend was being overly confident Michael pointed out, "But she wants to win so she's going to be very careful about what she says, and she'll have Lola and Nicole looking out for her too. Plus there's the fact that Dana's not bad, her first impression can be, but Lola and Nicole will probably try to make her seem nice. So what if she doesn't say anything to show the guys in our class the back off attitude she usually has toward a lot of them?"

Logan had actually already come up with an idea to solve this problem and he replied smirking confidently, "Then I guess I'll just have to provoke her at the debate tomorrow."

* * *

"Okay, so we have your outfits for the week and we know how you're getting the guys votes," Lola recapped with a mischievous smile, "but just to make sure you win you need to get girls to vote for you too. So, how are we going to do that?" 

"I don't know," Dana began, "but whatever you want me to do to seem appealing to girls, just let me know and I'll do it."

The girls sat in Lola and Dana's room in silent thought for a minute before Nicole said hopelessly, "Maybe it would just be easier if we make Logan un-appealing to girls."

A light bulb turned on in Lola's head, but as she collected her thoughts Dana responded without thinking before letting the words spill from her mouth, "Yeah right, that's not going to happen." Realizing how what she had said must have sounded and noticing the surprised looks on Lola's and Nicole's faces, Dana began defending, "I did not mean that how it sounded."

"You mean like you like him?" Lola promptly questioned.

"No, oh absolutely not," Dana said as her face contorted in disgust. She explained, "I just meant that you have to admit that if you didn't actually know Logan but just saw his picture, you'd think he's hot. Of course he ruins that when he opens his mouth and reveals what an arrogant, selfish, jerk he really is, but girls here seem to continuously ignore his personality and fawn over him because he's hot. In order to get girls to not like him we'd have to have him maimed or disfigured and as much as I'd like to see him get maimed, I think that permanent scarring or disfiguring would be taking this too far."

"Yeah you're right. I'd be kind of mean to destroy his appearance," Nicole agreed.

"Yeah," Lola concurred, but continued, "but I just wish there was some way that girls could find out what he's really like and actually believe it. Like maybe we could put a recorder in the girls' bathroom and locker room so all the girls could hear when girls are in there complaining about how he never goes out with them a second time."

"But despite the fact that every girl has heard that he doesn't go out with, or even make out with the same girl twice, they still flirt with them until he does something with them. Then they find out that he's not going to ask them out again and they still fawn over him and act like he's so great in hope that he'll actually care about them. I've done some pretty desperate things for a guy, but even I'm not that bad so I don't know how to get through to them," Nicole ranted.

Though Dana didn't know about the only once rule that Logan seemed to follow with girls, she wasn't surprised. After a minute of thought she offered, "Well, I don't know if it will work, but I think we should try talking to the girls we know he's gone out with only once and try and get them angry about it because if they're angry with him then they won't vote for him."

"Alright, I guess we could try getting some girls angry and see how it goes. There's a lot of girls in drama with me that I could start with," Lola offered.

"And he's dated a lot of my gym class too so I'll talk to them," Nicole put forth.

"I don't really know who he's dated, but I'll talk to any girl I come across who seems to like him," Dana began and intended to continue, but was cut off.

Lola quickly squashed Dana's offer, "No I don't think you should do any of the talking to the girls because if you do it might seem like it's just a campaign trick and not necessarily true."

Lola had a point so Dana didn't bother arguing, "Okay, then I'll just stick to leaving a lasting impression with the guys. For now though I think we should get started on the posters."

* * *

While the girls worked on posters for Dana, across the hall Chase and Zoey had been together for two hours without getting any work done. Chase had arrived in her room and immediately turned on the TV claiming that they had to watch the end of The Breakfast Club which was on at the time. Zoey, though homework usually came first in her book, didn't mind the idea so she didn't argue. After they watched the last hour of the movie though, they didn't bother moving from their close comfy couch position and instead started flipping through the channels. Since they couldn't find anything to watch, Chase had turned the TV on mute and started narrating shows himself making Zoey laugh as she tried to join in. 

Chase had stopped at an old episode of Batman and Robin on TV Land. As Batman and Robin, in plain clothes, raced into the back of their car and drew curtains around the windows, Chase narrated putting on a deeper voice acting as Batman, "Hurry into the small back seat of this car with me Robin. We'll draw the curtains so we can have some privacy as we make out. And remember; don't tell Batgirl about this, she'll feel neglected as this is something I only do with men."

Zoey had collapsed in hysterical laughter at Chase's latest fake dialogue creation, but she didn't collapse onto the ground, instead on Chase's chest. They had been slouched down right next to each other, space between them almost non-existent, feet stretched out and resting on the coffee table in front of them.

Chase froze and suddenly started to sweat almost profusely. He joined in laughing with her, but there was a clear nervousness to his laugh.

Zoey calmed down, looked up at Chase and said, "Change the channel please. I can't take anymore of your Batman, it's too much."

Chase did as she asked with a smile on his face because she didn't move; she stayed comfortably resting her head on him.

Chase and Zoey eventually got around to doing their homework just like everyone else did after they worked on their campaigns. Well, Logan didn't work on his campaign; he didn't think he needed to. But he did tell Michael that as his assistant it was his job to play Madden Football with him for the rest of the afternoon, a task which Michael wasn't about to complain about.

* * *

On the way to homeroom in the morning it was announced that Mario Garcia had withdrawn from the race. Mario was kind of popular. He was considered cute and he had a good group of friends. He was in band and he was always looking for people to form a rock band with on campus. He was on the surf team and he was a descent student with a really good sense of humor. All in all, he was really likeable and he knew a lot of people would vote for him. But after he spent the night thinking about it, he realized that some of his friends would probably actually vote for Dana because she was hot and though he could definitely get a considerable amount of votes despite that, he knew he wouldn't get as many as Logan. And when he considered it he didn't want to be president enough to have to try and beat Logan. His friends had actually nominated him just joking around. So in the end he just decided to keep his life easy and withdraw from the race. 

Now the election was Logan versus Dana totally and completely. Quinn's early predictions had Logan with a substantial lead, but Dana's outfit for this, their second day of the election, was their plan to change that.

Dana strolled into homeroom in her uniform from the private school she attended in Paris. It looked like a classic Catholic school girl outfit complete with plaid red, black, and white skirt, and white peter pan collared blouse. Like most white blouses her shirt was also somewhat see through. It wouldn't have been that noticeable if she wore a white or tan colored bra, but knowing the attention it would draw, she wore red. She also tweaked the outfit to ensure it would have the desired effect, rolling up the skirt until it was a less modest length and having a few buttons of her shirt unbuttoned making it as revealing as any shirt with a wide v-neck line.

The shock of seeing her in her outfit caused Logan's mind to have a brief lapse in any ability to think. He didn't find his mind and voice working until she had sat down, in her spot across the aisle from him, and class was about to start. Talking across Quinn he asked, "What the hell are you wearing?"

Dana had already noticed that she had his full attention since she sauntered into the room and she was expecting him to comment. Putting on an innocent face she replied, "What do you mean? I just put on my most respectable outfit for our debate later. Is there something inappropriate about this?" She smirked and added, "From what I hear cheerleaders are your fantasy, but you know, a lot of guys really have a thing for Catholic school girls. Hey, do you think that this will get me any votes?"

Logan's fists were clenching angrily as Dana taunted him. But he was determined to win this time. He quipped, "You realize you're missing the pig tails. Not giving guys the complete picture; I think that's something they'll hold against you when they vote."

"Whatever you want to tell yourself Logan," Dana began, she leaned across the aisle to speak quietly and Logan copied trying to lean across Quinn to hear whatever she was going to continue to say, "but I know that you know, that this image is one that is definitely going to last."

Logan chuckled disbelievingly and informed, "You do know exactly in what way they'll use this image, right?"

Dana responded still smirking confidently, "Mm-hmm, and it's a way that you can never beat." She glanced toward the front of the room as she started to sit upright again, but paused and leaned in again to say, "Oh, and Logan, could you stop trying to look down my shirt now? It makes you seem a little…desperate."

Logan had indeed been trying to look down her shirt, but it wasn't his fault. With the way she was leaning all a guy had to do was get in the right position and he would have a very nice view. Any guy would look, it didn't mean anything, according to Logan. And Logan really wanted to retort, but before he could Dana was sitting in her seat normally again and facing front seemingly paying attention as Mr. Bender re-announced the announcements that they had already heard over the intercom. He was beat by her again and he didn't like it.

Separately at lunch Quinn informed both Dana and Logan of them that Logan's lead was already not so substantial anymore. By the end of the day when they saw each other again Logan was very annoyed by the way she seemed to keep succeeding, but he had a plan. He watched the room in English class as guys continuously stole glances at her and thought that that wouldn't be happening for much longer, not after he exposed her for the rude man-hater she really was and it would only a short time before he executed his plan and everyone would know.

Right after class ended Dana and Logan and their campaign helpers headed to the debate being held in the cafeteria. Zoey and Chase met outside, they both figured the other would want to go, but neither actually wanted to go.

"So," Chase began not really knowing what to say, but thinking back to the previous day and how great it had been he decided to take a chance. He asked hopefully, "Do you want to go to a movie?"

"Yeah," Zoey replied immediately and planned, "so do you want to go leave our stuff in my room so we can go work on it later and then head to the theater?"

"Sounds good to me," Chase lied, it sounded better than good to him. It was fantastic. It was just him and Zoey, and she seemed to like it that way, or at least not mind it and that felt like progress.

* * *

Dana and Logan were each standing at a podium, the aisle separating chairs for either side. There weren't that many people there since it wasn't mandatory, but Logan's chairs were ever so slightly more filled than Dana's, though there was a clear contrast in the people on each side. Besides Lola and Nicole, those on Dana's side were almost entirely male. Besides Michael on Logan's side, sat mainly girls. The teacher who was advisor for the sophomore class was supposed to be running the debate, asking the candidates the important questions, but she gave up quickly since both candidates seemed to be taking similar tact. Logan and Dana's answers had been the typical responses that they knew would be popular with students, thus they had been basically the same. For instance, when asked what their first action as president would be, they both said making lunch longer. Both knew that this was something that would not be within their power, even most of the people listening to them knew, but it was the response that let the crowd know that they thought and felt similarly about school, so they both said it. 

After receiving four similar answers from the pair and the looks of disinterest on the face so the crowd, the teacher skipped ahead and wrapped things up. She asked the two candidates, "Any questions for each other?"

This was the one Logan had been waiting for. He promptly responded, "I have one." He looked to Dana, and with a straight face asked, "Will you go out with me after all this is over?"

Dana kept eye contact with him, trying to read him, and calmly and coolly responded, "That depends on how you handle yourself in this campaign."

That was not how Logan wanted her to respond. She was supposed to get mad, as usual, and call him name, be a man-hater and make the guys not like her. Or she was at least supposed to turn him down, that way at least the girls wouldn't like her since they would think she's crazy to do that. But no, she had to go and beat him again.

"Alright, I have a faculty meeting to get to so we'll call this the end. Remember you vote Friday here in the cafeteria," the teacher said as she gathered her things and left as quickly as the students.

Without anyone else still really around but their campaign helpers, Dana commented taking a challenging step toward Logan, "That was a pathetic attempt to try and fluster me or whatever you were trying to do. You seem to keep forgetting that I'm not a bikini stuffing bimbo, but I don't really mind. Just continue to underestimate me and it'll feel that much better when I win."

Deciding to play with her, Logan stepped forward returning the challenge, "You seem so sure I wasn't seriously asking you out."

"Please you'd have to be an idiot to ask me out and actually think I'd be interested in _you_," Dana replied, again seeming disgusted at the thought. She stepped forward, making the space between them nearing non-existent, and continued, "Wait a minute…yep that's you idiot, you probably are that ignorant. I guess you cold have been serious. I'd hate to insult you and leave but I have a presidency to win. See you later loser." And she sauntered away, again. Lola and Nicole trailed behind her proud and impressed.

Logan stood watching her with confusion. It happened again. Somehow in a span of ten minutes she won twice. He asked Michael, "I used to win, right? I mean occasionally I used to beat her?"

"Yeah, 'used to' being the key phrase," Michael replied, but not really helping. He really would rather have had Dana as president, but Logan was his friend to and he was technically on his side so he tried helping, "So how are you going to beat her?"

With a sigh of concession Logan said, "I guess I'll go set up the same deal with the smoothie stand that I did last year. Then I'll start using my money and call in some help."

* * *

Instead of telling every guy who approached her that she wasn't interested in to back off, Dana had been flirting and tolerating all of them. Lola and Nicole had managed to get a few girls angry with Logan and they encouraged them to tell all their friends. But seeing Logan around campus nothing seemed different, it was like a moth to a flame and girls were always just there with him whether he was giving away free smoothies or playing a casual game of basketball on the court. 

Meanwhile Chase and Zoey had the theater all to themselves all afternoon. They watched three movies, though they had both seen them all before. And after they had dinner together at Sushi Rox alone, since everyone else was busy, they assumed. Chase actually found it quite hopeful that Zoey didn't want to check with everyone before simply eating with just him. They spent the night doing their homework together and watching a little TV before curfew forced Chase to leave. They both returned to their rooms feeling as though they had the best day. Chase knew why he thought it was a perfect day, he spent it with Zoey. And though Zoey thought it was great, instead of exploring why, she simply fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

The next morning Dana sauntered into class again. This time her outfit was just as flattering, but not playing to any male fantasies. For extra appeal though her shirt read suggestively, "My lips hurt real bad." She sat down as Logan entered and took his seat next to Quinn. They looked at her expectantly and Quinn revealed, "Dana is now ahead according to my data." 

"Not for long," Logan said quickly.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself Reese," Dana replied and turned her back to him to congratulate and thank her helpers and ignore Logan.

Zoey and Chase weren't paying attention to the developments as they talked across the aisle.

"You're going to leave me alone today," Zoey pouted.

"The football tryouts are mandatory, it's part of our grade," Chase reminded. He took another chance and said honestly, "There is nothing I'd rather do than spend the afternoon with you, but I just can't."

"I know," Zoey admitted, "I just wish you didn't have to go." And she had the feeling that it wasn't just because he was her best friend, or the alternative was spending her afternoon alone, but because she really wanted to be with him. But those thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Bender beginning homeroom.

When lunch came around Michael was finally informed of exactly what Logan's money was doing. Logan had hired a campaign manager to advise him on how to win. The thirty something man showed up at their lunch in a three piece suite and he was incredibly obvious. Once Logan had told him what had been going on the man decided to keep a close eye on Logan's opponent in hopes of discovering some sort of weak spot.

Since Dana, Lola, Nicole, and Quinn were also helping working on campaign things, Chase and Zoey decided to have lunch together down by the lake. He threw grapes to Zoey which she was able to catch in her mouth, but when the roles were reversed Chase never managed to catch a single one despite Zoey's good aim. They didn't even need their fall back of would you rather, simply being able to enjoy non-awkward time together without any games or distractions. Though they knew that it wouldn't be another perfect day because of the afternoon forced separation, they did manage to enjoy lunch without thoughts of the future bringing them down.

But as Chase sat in their English class at the end of the day getting ready to have to head to something that would force him to be away from her he decided it wasn't worth it. Yes, showing up to football tryouts was mandatory and was part of their gym class grade, but Zoey was more important than any grade. And right now he could be with her, just her, and right now (by some miracle he believed) she didn't seem to mind that it was only him she was spending her days with. He wasn't going to leave her and risk messing things up, he wasn't going to miss out on another opportunity. Maybe he wouldn't tell her because she still called him "friend" but maybe the time alone together would make her reconsider whether or not that was the term she really wanted to lose. And he realized that his decision was sudden and completely nonsensical and probably unrealistically hopeful, but every glance to her caused him to not care about any of that more and more.

He knew that after class she was probably heading to her room so he acted like he was heading the opposite direction to the football field for tryouts and he took some shortcuts and different paths and showed up in front of her right as she was crossing the front of campus. He thought he'd surprise her with sudden appearance and news.

Zoey almost thought she was hallucinating when she saw him heading toward her. She knew that that wasn't where he was supposed to be. She asked as he approached, "Chase, what are you doing here? You're going to be late for tryouts."

"Actually I'm going to be absent for tryouts," Chase informed stopping in front of her with the amount of space between them that a best friend would leave. He smiled at her confused expression and explained, "I'm not going to tryouts. I'm spending today with you. Let's go somewhere, off campus for a change."

Zoey seemed to have gotten stuck at the first part of his explanation. She asked, "Wait, you can't not go to tryouts, its part of your grade you have to go."

"I do good in other classes and I don't really care about that grade, so I don't have to go," Chase reasoned, but he could tell that Zoey still didn't seem to understand why he wouldn't go. He decided to be honest with her, "Spending the day with you is more important to me than any grade, so if you want to, I'm spending the day with you."

Her cheeks suddenly began to heat up at his words, it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her so Zoey replied, "So where are we heading off campus?"

Chase smiled at yet another encouraging development and after dropping off their belongings in their rooms they got on a bus and spent the afternoon at a nearby miniature golf course having yet another perfect day.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this? Because you know you probably don't have to, you're already ahead," Lola checked with Dana as she prepared to exit their room and executed their next campaign stunt. 

Dana smoothed out her clothes, checked her hair in the mirror and replied, "No, I'm absolutely doing this. I may be ahead for now, but Logan is going to fight back and this'll make sure whatever he tries won't succeed."

"Good luck then," Nicole wished and Lola copied as Dana headed out their door to ensure her votes.

_Coils up and round me  
Teasing your poetry  
Switch me on, turn me up  
Oh child of Venus  
You're just made for love_

At the back of the football field, where most of the sophomore boys happened to be waiting to tryout as mandated, was the school pool completely empty since none of the water sports were in season. Logan and Michael among them, the boys standing against the fence that separated the football field and the pool, suddenly heard a loud splash. They all turned around trying to see who was in the water of the pool which was a good twenty feet from the fence. By the way they could tell it was clad, it was clearly a girl. She swam underwater from one end of the pool to the other, came up smoothly not gasping for air at all, and slowly climbed the steps out of the pool in clear view of every guy watching.

_I need la la la la la la  
I need ooh la la la la  
I need la la la la la la  
I need ooh la la la la  
_

Her suggestive t-shirt and mini-skirt lying at the other end of the pool, Dana was in a very flattering red string bikini, water dripping from everywhere as she climbed out, sure to have every guy's eyes busily traveling and their imaginations very occupied.

_I need la la la la la la  
I need ooh la la la la  
I need la la la la la la  
I need ooh la la la la_

Logan, angry with her latest stunt, raced around the fence and came face to face with her as she casually walked for a towel as hundreds of eyes followed her attentively. He tried to make it seem like nothing and with a gesture to her lack of clothing said, "And what exactly is this for?"

As she reached for her small towel and lightly dried off Dana replied casually, "Well, let's see, by the reaction I'm getting I guess I'm making myself the non-topless Linda Barrett to all those Brad Hamilton's," she finished with a wink to the guys piled at the fence, their eyes still glued to her.

"We're not at Ridgemont High," Logan said in an oddly serious tone.

Taking a rather large step towards him, making them dangerously close, Dana smirked and replied, "Yet according to the look on your face this little pool thing still managed to turn you into just another Brad Hamilton and while maybe one of those guys will have a chance at making me more than just their fantasy, I will always be Linda to your Brad, never anything more than a fantasy." Logan was about to retort when she placed her hand on his chest and yelled over his shoulder to the guys ogling her behind him, "Hi! If I win I'll be back out her next week in my white bikini," she said flirtatiously with a little wave which received whistles, hoots, and cheers from the rambunctious males. Removing her hand from his chest, he stared down at her suddenly speechless again. She smirked again (a thing he was really coming to hate) and confessed quietly, "I'm not going to be out here next week. I know you were already planning on coming, but even though I'm obviously going to win, I'm not going to be here. Just another empty political promise, but they'll get over it, just like they'll get over me never flirting with most of them again. But then how they react to me not following through doesn't matter, I'm only here to win. And from the look of everything," she leaned in and whispered in his ear, taunting him, "I'm definitely winning." She slung her towel and clothes over her shoulder and strutted away having all eyes on her, all eyes except Logan's this time. He was losing, to her, and it never seemed to end lately. And he was tired, extremely tired of losing. He wasn't going to lose anymore.

Dana walked back to her room trying not to think about anything she had just done. She won the battle again, she would never let herself be brought down, but even though it wasn't really noticeable, she faltered. Besides the fact that he was staring into her eyes when she was in the least amount of clothing he would ever see her in, it was something in his eyes, something that made her nervous despite the even toned voice she managed to keep. Verbally she may have dominated the battle, but as far as she was concerned, in silence he managed to put up quite a fight.

She entered her room with her towel securely wrapped around her as it had been since she was out of sight of her male voters. Lola and Nicole were waiting eagerly, but both were also quick to notice the unsettled expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" Lola was quick to ask, "Did everything go well?"

"I'm fine. Everything went successfully," Dana managed to respond flatly, but it was the fact that she didn't say anything more and chewed the lower corner of her lip as she gathered clean clothes to change into that kept the girls concerned. But they didn't question her any further, reassuring themselves that Dana could take care of herself and if there really was something wrong she would have told them.

* * *

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Zoey asked as her and Chase strolled back onto campus after spending the afternoon and evening out. 

Chase happily responded, "Well, we've done homework, TV, movies, miniature golf, so I guess that leaves us with two options for things that we haven't done but might be able to manage in the after school hours. One, we can go to the beach, but this season there are still tons of people there and I'm kind of pasty so I'd probably burn a lot. Or, our second option is the mall, which probably wouldn't be that fun for you without girls or that fun for me if you shop with me like I'm one of them, but I probably wouldn't end up with a sunburn from there and they do have food at the mall."

"The mall it is," Zoey declared. They had reached her building and stopped. The air between them got tense and awkward again. Zoey glanced down at her shoes while Chase scratched at his hair (since running his hand through it wasn't easy due to its bushiness). Their eyes met, Zoey laughed a little trying to ignore it all and said, "Well, goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

She was already heading into her building when Chase replied, "Yeah, tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning started with a fight. It was supposed to though, that was Logan's plan. He wanted to win, so he thought he'd start something and somehow his chances would be better because if he started it then he would be in control. He was wrong. But while he did consider the possibility that he could still lose, how it actually ended, never crossed his mind. 

Approaching her from behind as they were headed to toward their homeroom, he began with a simple, "Hey Danger."

Ignoring all weirdness from the previous day, Dana responded disinterestedly, "Such a tired nickname."

Walking beside her now, Logan thought victory was a sure thing when he retorted, "Well, with the way you've been dressing lately I can definitely come up with worse."

"And I can definitely leave you with a lot worse marks than those bruises," Dana was quick to counter with a gesture to his purple-ish shins and continued, "but my mother taught me to play nice."

Logan snickered as he said, "Like you're ever nice…" he continued with an arched eyebrow, "though there is one speech preventing activity that you may not be so bad in."

Now it was Dana's turn to chuckle (at the thing that his mind always seemed to be on) and respond, "And whether or not that's true is one of the many things you'll never learn, just like humility, consideration, and basic math."

Starting to get defensive because he still hadn't won and she was insulting him again, Logan said trying to control his temper, "I'll have you know I passed Algebra with a C."

Dana was tired of it, but it wasn't in her to give up or lose so she replied as she stopped in front of the door to their class and she turned to face him, "Not the most important thing on the list, but I really shouldn't have expected you to actually start getting the point."

Another insult and he didn't have a snappy come back. He wanted her as angry and frustrated as he was, but his mind was blank for anything like that. He quickly yelled in response the first thing that instinctively came to mind, "What is the point of this then?"

They had been challenging each other in their normal fashion; getting in each other's faces more and more making the space between them very small. When he yelled it shocked her a bit. She knew that she had won a lot lately and that he was increasingly easier to anger, but it wasn't just that he yelled something, it was what he yelled.

They stood in the hall outside their classroom in silence after his question with their eyes connected like magnets, unable to move. The silence made it a moment of honesty, a very rare thing for the pair. Neither one had a response to the question, and they both knew it, and it mattered. They each fought every battle against each other to win, but why either cared enough to be in a war they didn't know the point of, neither knew. But in the unspeaking honesty of their eyes they both knew, it mattered. The fact that they both kept coming back, always said something when it would have been so much easier not to, and only felt this…alive around each other, it meant something.

The bell rang, breaking them from their trance and making them late for the class they were right out side of. Dana opened the door to the classroom, walked in, sat down, and didn't look at Logan as he did the same. He avoided any glances toward her as well, even though she was once again in a very tempting outfit that would normally make him check her out. They ignored that it had meaning, that anything involving the other could have meaning, and they ignored each other for the rest of the day. It started with a fight, but it turned out to be a rather quiet day.

Logan later found what he was sure to guarantee him a win, but his silent distant state remained despite the good news. Dana managed to be nice while a couple of guys chatted her up, but she spent most of her day alone also silent and unnerved.

* * *

Chase and Zoey's day together had been great as usual. They had lunch alone together again at their secluded lakeside spot. After classes they headed to the mall where they spent most of their time just wandering around. Zoey didn't put Chase through the testosterone smothering act of helping her pick out outfits for herself. After spending time in every trinket or toy store and the food court, they we're passing by a men's clothing store when Zoey got an idea. 

"Oh let's go in here," Zoey said as she forcibly dragged Chase into the store.

Zoey quickly lead the way to the clothes that had caught her eye. She picked up a flannel shirt and held it to Chase, checking to see if the size she had chosen would fit him.

Chase was more than a bit confused. He asked as she traded the first shirt for the next smallest size and held it up to him again, "Um…are we shopping for me now?"

Smiling at the shirt and the fit and him approvingly she nodded and responded, "Yeah, you should get this."

"It's flannel," Chase replied as if that was a reason not to purchase it.

"Mm-hmm," Zoey confirmed and glanced away before confessing, "I really like flannel. I know I'm weird and…it's flannel, but I don't know…I've just always liked flannel. And you'd look really good in this." Zoey felt a little awkward after telling Chase that he'd look good in something. She had never said anything like that to him before. She had never let herself acknowledge the fact that she thought he looked good before. But seeing the flannel, unexplainably one of her favorite things, and the thought of Chase in flannel, and she couldn't help being bolder than usual, daring even.

It may have gone unnoticed to Zoey, but Chase's cheeks turned tomato red at her words. He bought the long sleeve flannel shirt she wanted him to. He put it on immediately and wore it the rest of the day, despite the fact that being early fall in Southern California meant that the temperature highs were still in the eighties.

Right after dinner together at one of the cheesy chain restaurants in the mall, Chase and Zoey were walking back onto campus from the bus when she said something that had been on both their minds, "I guess this is almost over. I mean, just the two of us, pretty soon everyone else will be done with the election stuff and we'll all be together again."

Though it was clear by her tone that the return of everyone else was something Zoey wasn't looking forward to, she was going to miss it just being her and Chase, but Chase didn't take her words that way. Yes, he heard the tone, the disappointment in it, but he didn't believe that it was actually true; it was just his very wishful imagination.

So Chase took her words for just words, defining them by their meaning not emotion and responded, "Yeah." And that was all he could manage to say, because his mind told him that Zoey was looking forward to everything being back to normal, not just her and him anymore because her words just wouldn't mean anything else. He knew she enjoyed the week with him, but she just couldn't want more because…that's what he wanted, and what they wanted had never seemed to be the same before.

* * *

On ceremony, the two candidates were the first to vote. Mock private voting booths had been set up in the cafeteria and Friday morning Logan and Dana both showed up for the tradition. They greeted each other shortly. 

"Reese," Dana acknowledged with slight edge to her voice.

"Cruz," Logan responded the greeting just as flatly. Uncharacteristically, he didn't have a smirk on his face despite the fact that he had arranged something that would ensure his win. He was finally going to win, but the uneasiness of the previous day stayed with him, and he still didn't smirk.

Proceeding into the booth Logan voted for himself and Dana voted for herself because their was no way either was voting for the other.

While Dana went on with her day as usual, Logan implemented and successfully executed his plan and as the day went on distractions developed they both started to push silent Thursday out of their minds.

As voting would be closed only an hour after classes ended, Zoey and Chase decided to vote during lunch, but they were not going to discuss who they voted for as they spent the rest of lunch alone together one last time.

Zoey went into her booth as Chase went into his. Their options were: Dana, Logan, or to write in a vote. Dana was her friend, but with a sigh she couldn't do what she didn't think was right. So Zoey wrote in her vote for Chase Matthews.

Chase did not want Logan to win, but in his mind there had always only been one person perfect for a class president position. So Chase wrote in his vote for Zoey Brooks. He knew that she'd never know and she'd never be president, but in this situation where she could never know, he voted for the girl he was in love with because to him she was perfect and she could be anything, president included.

Despite the air of finality, regrets, and disappointment that hung with them the previous night, Chase and Zoey had a great lunch together at their lakeside spot. Chase had decided that maybe Zoey didn't want just him right now, but maybe since they had spent the time together she would want to at least make it an occasional thing, then maybe a regular thing, then, if miracles really do come true, a permanent thing. Not that he didn't want to spend time with their other friends, but he wanted there to be a him and Zoey, just them too. And Zoey had decided that maybe her and Chase should spend more time together just them, but she was only thinking that that was necessary to remain good friends, or at least that was what she thought.

At the end of the day it was announced that Logan had won the election and the story of how he managed success was quickly spread and highly evident. The man Logan had hired as a campaign consultant had found absolutely no fault in Dana's campaign tactics and he was sure that there was no competing with her and Logan would lose. But as chance would have it as he was ready to tell Logan the bad news he came across a rather shy young man who had Logan's victory in his pocket, literally. One of the Brad Hamilton's Dana was playing too at her pool stunt had had (despite the coach's strict instructions that those caught in gym or tryouts with electronic devices would be severely punished) a cell phone with a camera. He managed to get a decent shot of Dana as she was climbing out of the pool. With news from his hired manager that the picture existed and with advice as to what he could do with it to win, Logan bought all copies the boy had. He sent the picture to the printers, had it touched up to look very Sport's Illustrated, and printed enough posters for every guy in the sophomore class. Of course Logan was playing it safe so when he handed the posters out to every guy who voted, he also gave them five dollars to ensure they would vote for him instead of the slightly doctored girl in the photo. Most guys were smart enough to know that though they had received attention from Dana this week, there was no way she was ever going to go out with all of them, time wise it was impossible even if she wanted to. So the poster and cash for voting for Logan at least meant that they got something. Though, not every guy voted for Logan because they got pictures of Dana, some did because they got pictures of him. Combined with the votes of his female admirers, it was a landslide for Logan.

Though secretly she had to hand it to him for being so lucky and unwaveringly determined, Dana was pissed. She spent so much time and effort fighting him, winning votes, just to lose horribly at the last minute. But the anger actually passed fairly quickly since she didn't really want to be president, she didn't care if people liked her, and she'd still win battles with Logan, the war wasn't over. Rather than act upset, mad, or disappointed, she spent the night avoiding everyone. Eventually she found herself on the empty basketball court, no ball, just sitting on the bleachers enjoying the quiet solitude.

Of course Logan couldn't resist being his usual self and he was feeling really good about himself because despite all the losses he had just won. And he wanted to taunt her and more, so he went searching for Dana and found her finally just before ten when curfew would send him back to his dorm. He hadn't peaked into the court earlier because he hadn't heard any dribbling so he just assumed it was empty, but when he finally looked he saw her sitting on the bleacher staring into nothingness.

He approached quickly, and quietly he thought, but she was the first to speak, "Find me so you could gloat?"

"Nope," he lied so he could draw out the gloating for his further enjoyment.

Sighing Dana asked tiredly, "What do you want Logan?"

With a smirk he replied smoothly, "I want you."

Dana laughed disbelievingly and said sarcastically, "Nice line. Too bad it's you saying it, any other guy and it might actually sound good."

Tired of getting insulted Logan decided to momentarily skip the gloating and replied, "So quick to insult so I'll just get to the point, the presidency is yours I'm resigning. Never wanted it, I just wanted to beat you."

Somewhat surprised by his news Dana replied honestly copying his honesty, "I didn't want it either I just wanted to beat you."

Avoiding silence after the rare honesty Logan checked, "So neither one of us are going to be president after all this?"

With a shrug Dana replied, "Guess not."

Neither knowing what to say, awkward silence settled over them.

Grasping at straws in his mind Logan asked, "So did I handle myself well in the campaign?"

"What?" Dana asked confused.

"At the debate you said about me handling myself the right way, so did I?" Logan clarified.

Dana started walking away, exiting the court as she replied knowing Logan would follow, "You did whatever it took to win. Any guilt or regrets over tactics used?"

"Never," Logan replied without regret.

Smiling slightly despite not wanting too, Dana responded, "Good, me neither. It was a fight to win, and besides everything is fair in politics."

"I knew you would say that," Logan said confidently as his stride quickened placing her behind them as they walked in the direction of their dorms.

Walking faster to match his faster pace, Dana asked with doubtfully with her hands on her hips, "Really?"

Confidently again, keeping his eyes forward and not on her, Logan replied, "Yep. You had 'bring it on' written all over your face."

Challenging Dana stepped in front of him and said, "So you think you know me."

"Of course I do, I know everything," Logan responded cockily.

"Okay what am I thinking right now?" Dana asked as her expression turned into a steely glare.

Of course with his ego in the way Logan couldn't see the glare and answered, "Your typical thought of how much you want me."

Dana sighed frustrated and turned around and started walking again as she responded sarcastically, "Oh yeah, I want you because you're _so_ irresistible. Yeah I want you like I want West Nile virus. You know you haven't changed one bit since-"

Dana was cut off by Logan quickly grabbing her arm, spinning her around, and grasping her face so that her lips met his forcefully. He kissed her. He kissed her because he had tried everything else to get her to stop, to end the constant insults. So instinct and impulse took over so that he was doing something that was irreversible. But in that brief moment of kissing her he didn't care.

And is seemed neither did she. Initially her eyes went wide with surprise and she grasped his forearms to push him away, but it was surprisingly tempting and unbelievably good. So her resting hands didn't push, but grasp, her eyes shut and for a brief moment she sunk into it and she let it happen, she kissed him back.

He let his hands leave her face as his lips parted from hers. He took a small half step back trying to comprehend what just happened.

Dana was clearer on what she wanted to do as she quickly responded to the ended kiss by angrily slapping Logan across the face causing a loud clap sound in the silence. Furious she asked, "What the hell was that for?"

Snapping back into normal Logan replied shouting angrily, "Temporary insanity obviously since I would never do that in my right mind." Something occurring to him he continued, "A better question is why did you kiss me back?"

Shouting defensively in response to the insults, flat out and implied, of his brief statements Dana yelled, "I did not! I would never because I can't stand you!"

"Yeah, same here!" he yelled back.

But suddenly thanks to the heat, the passion, the excitement, the proximity, the anger, the thrill of the moment, they both quickly closed the small space between them kissing lustfully, hungrily, desperately almost.

_Cause I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind._

And in the dark silence of night, hiding in a shadow from things that weren't there, with the kissing continuing, curfew passing unnoticed, and resulting thanks to the events of the re-election, Dana and Logan discovered something new.

_I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind.  
I'm out of my mind.

* * *

_

**A/N: Direction Notes: **Every time what Chase and Zoey have been up to is summarized I would show it in a montage and have "You're My Best Friend" by Queen playing to keep it fun, light, and unromantic for now. Them hanging out was about friendship, not love so a love song wouldn't be appropriate.

There was a reference to _Fast Times At Ridgemont High_, it was the whole pool scene. I previously established Dana knowing eighties movies and for her to get an idea from one seemed fitting. If you haven't seen it and you don't get what it was about though, let me know and I can explain.

**Reader Involvement:** Chapter/ Episode 5 (the one after next) will contain a Halloween dance. Costumes for Dana and Logan have already been worked into the story line, but I would like to hear your suggestions for the rest of the main characters. Also, I'm not sure if they'll be included yet, but if you have a costume idea for those three cheerleaders too, let me know. If your costume is chosen in the chapter it will contain a special thanks to you.

Also, there is a loose reference to current events in this chapter. There is a phrase that has been popping up in newspapers for the last five years or so in reference to the government's knowledge and that phrase was used in this chapter. If you have knowledge of current events and know what I'm referring to, please let me know, because if you crack this I think it's safe to deem you most savvy and politically knowledgeable reader on here.

**Next Episode/Chapter** : Titled "With the World Watching" it will contain who the real sophomore class president will be, cheerleading tryouts, a library discovery, rules for a reason, and a bit more insanity. Sorry for the vaugeness, but I don't want to give anything away.

Okay, I'm going to stop rambling with this. **PLEASE REVIEW**, let me know what you thought, because I'll only write as long as you guys want to read it.

**I hope you made it to the end and I hope you enjoyed!**

**-Hopeless Romantic 86**


	5. 4: With The World Watching

**A/N: Once again I would like to thank all the fabulous people who reviewed! And I apologize for this taking so long, but I'm not really finding time in my schedule to write, but on the plus side this is long again.**

As usual, I have long author's note at the bottom so I'll conclude this and leave you with the **MUSIC**: "Crazy" Gnarls Barkley (it's worked in a bit awkwardly because I was trying to correlate lyrics with occurrences and not disturb text and it probably didn't work, sorry), "Welcome to the Jungle" Guns 'N Roses, "Becoming You" AM Radio (a very small snip of it), and "A Praise Chorus" Jimmy Eat World.

**I hope you enjoy the chapter even though I'm not sure if it's very good.

* * *

**

Everything seemed back to normal as the weekend passed, in fact, it was Monday morning and everything still seemed exactly the same as always.

Michael had detoured from the gang on the way to breakfast and when he found them he excitedly announced, "I made the football team!"

Everyone immediately congratulated him but Nicole didn't stop at congratulations asking, "What position are you playing? Who else is playing what? Are you varsity or junior varsity? Do you get to pick your own uniform number? What number are you going to pick?"

Placing a hand on Nicole's arm signaling her too stop talking Zoey questioned, "Did you put sugar on your Coco Krispies again?"

Nicole nodded in confirmation and for her hyperactive rant said, "Sorry."

"Anyway," Michael began moving on, "to answer some of your important questions, I'm junior varsity second string corner back and safety. I have no idea what's going to happen if both first strings are out, but hopefully coach has a plan. As for who else is playing what, I don't remember but the list is posted outside the gym."

Michael thought that Logan would be cocky enough to ask if he made it, but there was no way Logan was going to ask and risk Michael bringing up how he actually performed at tryouts. With his tryout taking place after Dana's pool appearance, Logan's resulting anger and frustration did not end up working toward his advantage. Instead of playing a little harder, being a little more determined during his tryout, Logan was distracted and at one point almost got hit in the head by the ball he was supposed to catch. He was sure if Dana hadn't been there, especially in the way that she was, he would have had to turn down a spot on the team. But she had been there and he blamed his horrible performance on her.

Not really knowing much about football, Nicole had to ask, "So what are you doing then and what do you mean about a plan?"

Before Michael could answer, Logan sighed in a frustrated disbelieving manner, and rolled his eyes as he began in a demeaning tone, "How could you not…Ow! What the hell was that for?" Logan yelled the last bit at Dana, knowing immediately that she had been the one to kick him in the shin under the table.

"You were using a condescending tone and you were probably going to say something mean and you know what happens when you say something mean," Dana replied promptly.

His face hardening, his eyes meeting hers to return the challenge, Logan retorted, "Is it mean now to tell the truth? What Mike said was in English, it made sense, if she didn't get it-"

"Because maybe she doesn't know anything about football so when she asks a question she deserves you talking down to her? I don't think so," Dana cut him off in defense.

"Stop!" Zoey yelled at the pair causing them to finally lift their eyes from one another. The fighting took place so often all their friends were extremely tired of it. Firmly Zoey said, "Just drop it, okay?"

Both Dana and Logan were silent, but their gazes feel onto one another again, but this time without challenge, without frustrated glaring, with something new.

Breaking the silence Michael got up as he announced, "Well, I'm gonna go see Coach Grier about practices and stuff. See you guys later."

"I'll go with you. I need to talk to him too about missing tryouts," Chase immediately said getting up too, but not without glancing to Zoey with a small smile as he mentioned tryouts. With another "later," they were off leaving Logan and the girls at the table.

Normally Logan liked being surrounded by girls, but with the guys gone he said, "Well I'm definitely not staying. I don't even know why I stayed this long. I have better things to do."

"Then we won't keep you," Lola promptly happily replied for she knew what would happen if he stayed, another fight. At first she thought they were amusing and for the briefest of seconds she almost thought something else about them. But as the pair fought more and more, she decided that they were just annoying.

"Later," Logan said mechanically as he got up and walked away from the table. But once he was a good twenty feet away he glanced back to see the girls occupied in discussion. He stopped and turned around catching the attention of the person he wanted, Dana. Noticing that she noticed him, he held up two fingers and jerked his head in a gesture of, "come with me," or "follow me." She nodded discretely and he smiled as he turned around and continued walking away.

Dana returned to listening to the conversation at hand, which was Zoey and Lola explaining Michael's position.

"Okay, I get what he's doing now, but if both of the people he would replace are sick or injured or something, does he have to play both positions?" Nicole asked curiously after being told what Michael was supposed to do.

Her face scrunching up in thought, Zoey replied, "I don't know what would happen actually."

Lola just shrugged in agreement that she didn't really know either, but offered, "Well, like he said, hopefully the coach has some kind of plan for that."

After glancing at her watch, Dana stood up and said before Nicole could ask another question, "I forgot about something so I'll see you guys in class."

_I remember when_

_I remember_

_I remember when I lost my mind_

_There was something so pleasant about that place_

Normal paced Dana walked away and by the general direction she was heading she was going to the girls' dorm building. But with a glance around to make sure no one she knew was watching her, Dana detoured and headed towards the boys dorms. Her pace increased steadily as did her heart rate in anticipation. _Even your emotions had an echo _

_In so much space. Mmm. _She went in Stevenson Hall, looking around in almost a paranoid fashion to make sure no one noticed her there and getting on the elevator. The elevator doors opened and she cautiously looked around before she stepped out onto the third floor. _And when you're out there_ _Without care_ _Yeah, I was out of touch_ _But it wasn't because I didn't know enough I just knew too much_. She practically ran down the empty hall to room 353 in the hope that she'd be quick enough not to get caught. She knocked on the door rapidly and it immediately swung open.

_Mmm…_

_Does that make me crazy_

_Does that make me crazy_

_Does that make me crazy_

_Probably_

Logan grabbed Dana around the waist pulling her to him, pulling her inside as his lips crashed against hers urgently. She wrapped her arms around his neck holding on as she let him drag her inside because this was exactly what she came for, it was what she kept coming for. With the door quickly shut and Dana being pressed against it by Logan she reached behind her and locked the door as the kiss was eagerly deepened.

_An I hope that you are having the time of your life_

_But think twice_

_That's my only advice_

As his hands were ever so slowly starting to slip down her back he asked concerned while barely breaking the kiss, "Do you think they noticed?"

_Mmm…_

Murmuring against his lips Dana wasn't quite sure what he was referring too, but couldn't resist saying, "You being a jerk? Yeah I think they caught that."

_Come on now_

_Who do you_

_Who do you_

_Who do you_

Normally this was something that would have caused Logan to result to insults as well, but she was still kissing him. So instead he pulled away briefly and said, "No, of course they noticed us fighting, it's the only thing that comes from us talking. Do you think they noticed me with the gesturing?"

_Who do you think you are_

_Ha ha ha_

_Bless your soul_

_You really think you're in control_

"If they noticed I would still be down there answering questions," Dana replied quickly as she kissed him in a way to make sure he wasn't thinking anymore and definitely wouldn't have the urge to talk again. She didn't want to talk, talking only lead to fighting and they did enough of that around people, but they were alone so fighting was not what she wanted.

_Well_

_I think you're crazy_

_I think you're crazy_

_I think you're crazy_

_Just like me_

Fighting wasn't what he wanted either. It was the tenth time they had found themselves in a make out frenzy since that fateful Friday night, but if he could have had his way it would have been much more than their tenth meeting. He didn't let himself think about that though, about how much he wanted this, with her.

_My heroes had the heart_

_To live their lives out on the limb_

_An all I remember_

_Is thinking I wanna be like them_

His hand started slipping further and further down her back again until it got to the point that made her break the kiss just to say, "Hand."

_Mmm…_

This made Logan groan in slight frustration as he moved his hand back up her back. He knew why they had the rules and he did agree to them, but he still thought everything would be a lot more fun if they broke some of their rules.

_Ever since I was little_

_Ever since I was little it looked like fun_

_It was no coincidence I've come_

_An I can die when I'm done_

The warning bell rang and they separated. She reached behind her and unlocked the door as she said, "I'll go first."

_But maybe I'm crazy_

_But maybe you're crazy_

_Maybe we're crazy_

_Probably_

He nodded as a smirk spread across his face. She had turned around and walked out the door, but if he had seen her face walking away from his room, he would have seen her smile.

He waited a few minutes before he quickly made his way to their homeroom to show up far apart to ensure no one would have thought they were together. It was one of their rules, the fact that they were making out frequently was to remain a secret. First it was to be just between them because sneaking around made it more fun. Secondly, they hid it because they didn't want to endure questions from their friends. After that first kiss that they both gave into they agreed that they did not like each other, nor did they want to. But they both did admit that the hour they spent making out in that dark shadow on the fateful Friday was fun and that they both enjoyed having fun. So they agreed to their current arrangement, making out because they were bored and it was fun, and there would be no strings attached. It would end whenever they wanted and absolutely nothing more would develop because of it.

To ensure that it stayed purely casual Dana had decided on some restrictions. How much didn't matter, but there always had to be some sort of space between them. That rule had been compromised a bit since he would naturally grab her to him and she would do the same. And she knew the rule was being broken, but she always let them break it anyway. There was also the no leaving a mark rule, which was pretty understandable since they didn't want anyone to know what they were doing. Then there was the rule for both of their hands. She argued that if their hands were restricted to certain safe areas there would be even less of a chance of it developing into something real. Though his hands had began to travel, once she warned him, he always made himself return to the safe areas because he really didn't want them to be anything more either. They both agreed that this was the only way they could stand to be around one another, which is why they still fought when in each other's presence in any other way.

* * *

By the time lunch came Logan had found his way to Dean Rivers' office and resigned and Dean Rivers had offered Dana the position and she declined. Taking another look at the votes, there was only one other thing he could do. Despite the fact that they were supposed to be getting their lunch break, Dean Rivers summoned Chase and Zoey to his office. Both Chase and Zoey were surprised to find the other also heading for Dean Rivers' office since neither had any idea what was going on. They were immediately told to go in and Dean Rivers promptly told them to please sit down.

Not wasting any time Dean Rivers dove right in saying, "The results of the voting for your sophomore class president had Logan Reese come in first and Dana Cruz second, but both of them declined the position despite the fact they ran for it. Anyway for the third place position there was a tie of two write in votes, the both of you."

Simultaneously figuring it out they said to each other the surprise evident in their voices, "You voted for me?"

Smiles and blushes spread across their faces as Dean Rivers continued, "So would one of you take it and the other be vice president. Either way, I don't really care what you decide, but one of you needs to take the job because we just can't hold another election since everyone elected by them quits anyway."

Chase immediately said, "You should be president Zoey."

Ignoring the heat increasing in her cheeks Zoey responded, "And I voted for you because I thought you should be president."

Chase smiled, sighed, and said, "And I'm glad you think that, but we both know that between the two of us you're the better one for the job. You can do anything and you always do everything well. You should be president."

Zoey was blushing furiously and had to tear her eyes from Chase's before saying, "Well, if any of that's true, the only reason I can get through anything is because you're always right their helping me so if I'm going to be president then you have to be my vice president."

Chase's smile only grew as he complied, "As you wish."

* * *

"Where are Zoey and Chase?" Lola asked as her Nicole and Michael sat down to lunch. Before either could respond to her question she offered optimistically, "Maybe he's finally telling her."

Speaking from experience Michael warned, "Don't get your hopes up."

"You don't get your hopes up, but mine are always up because I still believe that someday Chase will tell Zoey and they will live happily ever after. And I don't care if that sounds naïve," Nicole said hopefully.

"Well if you girls want to keep being let down I won't stop you," Michael conceded deciding that they both knew how long it had already been without Chase telling Zoey and if they really wanted to still be optimistic, well that was their choice. Yet as they began eating their respective lunches Michael had to set down his sandwich and say, "Oh, I forgot my chemistry book and homework for next period, I better go get it real quick. You guys don't eat my lunch while I'm gone."

Lola and Nicole nodded in agreement as they continued to eat their own lunches, but as soon as Michael was out of sight they both stole fries from his plate completely disregarding his comment.

"I'm already so ready for the weekend," Nicole commented.

Lola responded surprised because, "But we're only half way through Monday."

Nicole replied not noticing Lola's surprise or thinking that what she was saying was odd at all, "I know."

Changing the subject Lola asked curiously, "So are you going to tryout for the cheerleading team this Friday?

Nicole shrugged and admitted, "I don't know, with all the people that are going to be there trying out too and watching it's kind of scary."

"But you would make such a great cheerleader," Lola encouraged. With Nicole still looking doubtful she suggested, "How about I go with you, you know for moral support?"

"Really?" Nicole checked.

"Yeah, it will give me a chance to practice a new character, the cheerleader," Lola assured.

Nicole squealed and hugged Lola as she said excitedly, "Yay! This is going to be so much fun!"

"What's going to be fun?" Zoey asked curiously as she set down her lunch tray with Chase following close behind.

As Chase and Zoey sat down next to each other across from Lola and Nicole, Nicole explained, "Lola and I are going to tryout for the cheer team. Do you want to tryout with us, Zoey?"

Glancing at Chase knowingly Zoey replied, "I don't think I'll have time." Receiving puzzled looks from Lola and Nicole, Zoey opened her mouth to continue but was cut off by Michael.

Michael returned with his chemistry book in hand and immediately interrupted on account of what he had just seen, "The weirdest thing was just going on in our room. I went back to get my book and it appeared to be empty, but I heard a noise in the closet. A second later Logan poked his head out. He said he was with a girl and when I was struggling with that stupid stubborn lock on our door she freaked out and hid in the closet and he decided to follow because they had apparently been in the middle of something. It was just weird because you know most girls want to be seen with Logan and this one didn't."

"Yeah, that is strange," Chase agreed.

Zoey glanced around the table again and said, "Well that explains why Logan isn't here, but where's Dana?"

"She said she had something to do," Lola answered.

Returning to the interrupted topic, Nicole asked, "So why are you too busy to tryout?"

Zoey glanced at Chase before responding, "Well, Logan and Dana both turned down the position as president and Dean Rivers told me and Chase that we were tied for third because we both wrote in each others names. After some discussion we decided I would be president and Chase would be vice president."

"That's great!" Nicole exclaimed.

"What's great?" Dana asked as she sat down with a lunch tray.

"Zoey's president and Chase is vice president," Lola answered.

"Congratulations. The class is definitely in better hands than they would have been with me and a lot better than they would have been with Logan," Dana said before quickly trying to eat some of her lunch.

"Thanks," Zoey responded politely and asked curiously, "so why were you late to lunch too?"

Dana took a minute to chew the mouthful of food she had taken as Zoey asked the question and, after swallowing, finally responded, "Oh, well you know how my parents had some conditions for letting me come back here? Well, one of those was that I had to join a club that would look good on college applications so I joined yearbook and-"

"You joined yearbook?" Nicole interrupted.

"Yeah, the first week of school because they had positions for photographers and I'm into photography so it seemed like the best thing for me to join," Dana responded and continued, "So I just had to go deliver some samples of my photographs to see if I get to be one of the two candid photographers for our class, you know where I'd just take a bunch of pictures of everyone at random to try and get good stuff for the yearbook, which is going to be a lot thicker this year."

"That's really cool, I had no idea you were into photography," Chase commented.

Dana shrugged and swallowed the last bit of her rushed lunch before saying, "Yeah well I only have one camera and it is kind of old, but it is really good and the great photo opportunities was actually one of the only things I liked about Paris."

Michael questioned, "So all those pictures of Paris on your walls are yours?"

"Yep," Dana responded.

"Really? Those are beautiful," Chase complimented.

"Yeah," Michael agreed.

"Thanks," Dana replied with a small bashful smile.

The bell to go to class rang and they all headed their separate directions, except Lola and Michael who had the same direction to head, to chemistry.

As they walked Lola asked, "Find your homework?"

"Yeah," Michael answered. He sighed and asked, "Can I ask you something? Cause it seems like you girls are always surprising me and I think it's because I don't ask enough questions."

"Sure, ask away," Lola responded slightly amused by Michael's reasoning.

Michael took a small breath and asked, "Why have you been so interested in Chase and Zoey since you found out about Chase's feelings?"

Lola stopped and turned to face Michael as she explained with a smile, "So as an actor, in order to play a role correctly, you have to understand the character right. And generally I can do that. Like this Friday I'm going to go to cheer tryouts with Nicole and be peppy and confident and have a want to be popular. And I know how to do that and I understand why a girl would want to be a cheerleader so I should be pretty good at that role. But Chase and Zoey, I don't understand either of them. I mean, instead of not voting or voting for one of their friends, they voted for each other and they act like it meant nothing. And Zoey doesn't notice anything. And Chase loves her but for some reason in two years he hasn't told her. And I just don't understand any of it and if I had to play someone like either of them, I don't think I could do it and that's actually a first for me."

That was actually more complicated than Michael was expecting, but he quickly figured out a way to help, "Well I think you may be having trouble understanding because you still don't know everything that's happened."

Her eyes widening Lola asked excitedly, "There's more stuff I don't know about? You HAVE to tell me!"

Michael groaned as he checked his watch and said, "Well, we should really get to class."

"Who cares about class? You have to tell me. Come on tell me. Please?" Lola pleaded.

They were just outside the building their classroom was in so Michael reasoned, "How about I make you a deal? I'll agree to a time in the near future to tell you if you agree to come to class now so we don't get in trouble for being late or missing."

Realizing that she really couldn't afford to miss chemistry either since science in general was never her best subject and to stay in drama she couldn't fail a class, Lola conceded, "Okay, fine. When?"

Michael started heading to their class again as he tried to figure out a time, "Well, I have practice everyday after school."

"And I have drama club," Lola informed.

"I have my first game Friday night," Michael said with a smile.

"And we'll all be cheering you on from the stands," Lola assured.

"Saturday I have practice in the morning, but I'm free in the afternoon," Michael offered.

"I have fencing lessons," Lola replied, her schedule squashing that open time.

Michael would have asked about why she was taking fencing lessons, but there wasn't time now and there would be later if they could just find a private time to talk. He suggested, "Saturday night?"

"Aren't we all going to try that new pizza place on campus?" Lola checked.

"Oh yeah," Michael remembered and offered again, "So Sunday?"

"Homework," Lola replied simply and knowing that Sunday would be the only time during the busy weekend that she'd have time to work on all the weekend homework.

It just so happened that Michael had exactly the same Sunday plans as Lola so he offered, "You want to work on it together without everyone else and I can catch you up at the same time?"

"Sure," Lola agreed eagerly. She hated having to wait until Sunday, but at least she was going to find out.

Michael smiled and arranged as they reached the door to their classroom, "Alright then, two o'clock in the library and can we go to class now before we're late?"

"Fine," Lola conceded but said honestly, "But I still would rather skip class and hear everything now."

"I know you would," Michael said as he opened the door and held it open for Lola to enter first. As she passed him he added, "You're especially going to want to hear about that time Chase told Zoey he loves her."

"What!" Lola shouted drawing everyone's attention to her. She stepped back out of the room beside Michael and continued in a hushed whisper of a shout, "You're kidding right? Tell me you weren't serious. Michael, com on, you can't do this to me."

Michael simply smiled, liking that this was going to torture her, and walked through the door as Lola trailed after him still with pleading eyes. The door closed and the final bell rang and there wasn't anymore talk of things to be discussed Sunday until Sunday for it wasn't safe with so many people always lurking about.

Of course they weren't the only ones who were doing things that got dashed by the constant lurking about of other people…

* * *

"Get out," Dana bellowed at Logan who was a good four feet away from her in her dorm room where they had been alone together.

"Free country, you can't make me do anything," Logan retorted.

Turning to Lola who had just entered the room to see the little scene, Dana demanded, "Lola, tell him he is never welcome in our room."

As she set down her bag and took out her books Lola asked tiredly, "Why are you here Logan?"

Since Lola's back was to him, Lola didn't notice Logan's look of alarm and gesturing of Dana telling him to just figure something out. Logan made up, "Umm…I was just looking for…Chase…across the hall and...-"

Noticing that he was struggling Dana jumped in, "And he decided to invite himself over here and be a jerk."

"Annoying you is just a bonus," Logan replied smoothly and figured out, "I just wanted to wait and see if Chase shows up."

Shoving new books into her bag Lola concluded as she headed for the door, "Right. Well have fun, don't kill each other. I have drama so see you later."

As soon as the door shut behind her Lola stopped for a second because she didn't hear any shouting, which was definitely not what she expected. She headed down the hall despite her urge to go back in the room.

Before she made it to the stairs she ran into Chase and Zoey heading to Zoey's room to pick up some things before they got started on putting together the rest of the student council.

"Hey guys," Lola greeted them and informed, "Chase, Logan is in my room bugging Dana, but he was looking for you."

Chase shrugged and he turned toward Dana and Lola's door instead of Zoey's and she followed.

Dana and Logan had resumed their pre-Lola interrupting activities and this time the door wasn't locked, leaving them less time to react. Dana's hands had been cupping Logan's face as his arms encircled her waist and his hands teased at the bottom of her shirt. They were thoroughly enjoying being alone until Dana heard the turn of the door handle (Chase didn't see the need for knocking since what private thing could Logan and Dana be doing?) and she reacted instinctively. Dana shoved Logan roughly and sent him flying in a heap to the ground, which was what Chase and Zoey saw when they entered, not what the pair had been doing before the shove, but just the shove itself.

Logan was furious, he still hadn't noticed Chase and Zoey and before he could say something revealing Dana looked to Chase and Zoey and hurriedly explained, "He came at me."

Logan's anger visibly resolved, but he acted angry and went along with it, "I was no where near you. You just went all crazy and pushed me. With your mood swings it's like you're constantly pms-ing."

Dana lunged at him and Zoey jumped in between holding Dana back who was furious it seemed.

Logan of course taunted, "See I told you she's all psycho."

This prompted Dana to try harder to get past Zoey and Zoey to order, "Chase, get Logan out of here."

Chase directed Logan out of the room and shut the door behind them. Skipping why him and Dana were fighting again, Chase got to the point, "So why were you looking for me?"

"Oh, umm…" Logan tried to stall so he could think of something. Noticing the bulge in Chase's pocket he lied, "I forgot my keys so I'm locked out, can I borrow yours?"

"Yeah," Chase said as he took the keys out of his pocket and handed them over.

"Thanks. Later," Logan replied and took off down the hall leaving.

Zoey came out of Dana's room just as Logan left. Chase asked as Zoey joined him, "She calmer?"

"Yeah, as soon as Logan's not around she's fine," Zoey replied as she opened the door to her own room.

Chase and Zoey went inside Zoey's room and as soon as the door was shut Logan came out from around the corner of the end of the hallway. He quickly made his way back down the hall to Dana's room and went in to find her heading towards the door with her bag.

"You really want to try this again?" Dana asked.

Noticing her bag Logan ignored her question and asked, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I have things to do," Dana replied.

"What things?" Logan demanded.

"None of your business," Dana said firmly as she stepped around Logan and opened her door.

Logan quickly shut the door before she could go out and held it shut. She looked up at him questioningly and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. He kissed her slowly and purposefully. He pulled away leaving her slightly dazed and said, "When you're done with your stuff come to my room, Chase is with Zoey and Michael's at practice."

But she absolutely had to remain in control so Dana responded, "I don't think that's going to happen, I have better things to do."

Coolly Logan replied confidently, "Maybe you do, but you're going to come anyway. You want me too much to stay away." He gave her one last smirk and left.

But Dana was determined; she wasn't going to go see him. It was getting out of hand, already, three days and she was losing control. She knew Logan was right, she wanted him, but she really didn't want to anymore. She wasn't going to go see Logan anymore today because it was all just too much.

Meanwhile, Chase and Zoey were busy going through yearbooks trying to figure out who to select to fill up the rest of the student council positions. Normally Nicole tried to stay away to leave them alone, but unknowingly walked in on them in her and Zoey's room and they asked her to stay and help and she didn't come up with an excuse soon enough. Pretty soon it was mostly Nicole giving her thoughts on every single guy in the class, Zoey nodding trying to seem like she cared, and Chase getting increasingly bored. Since it seemed like him and Zoey were a thing of the past, Chase left. He returned to his room to find Logan all alone because Dana was still staying away.

And Dana intended to stay away the entire night but after her yearbook meeting ended and she finished her homework and it was still two hours until dinner and she couldn't find anything to do, she caved. She convinced herself that she was delusional earlier when she wanted Logan, no, she didn't want him, she just didn't have anything else to do.

So Dana showed up knocking on Logan's door only to find it answered by Chase. Her face fell in disappointment, but it wasn't like she was looking forward to it or anything, of course not. She immediately noticed Logan sitting on his bed staring at her and mouthing as he pointed at Chase, "He just showed up." And he shrugged, not knowing what to do now.

"Um…hey Dana," Chase said surprised to find Dana at his door and silent.

"Uh…Chase, good, just who I was looking for," Dana began trying to think of something to cover for her being there, "have you seen Zoey?"

"Yeah, she's in her room with Nicole," Chase responded a little puzzled because why would Dana come all the way over there to ask him when Zoey was right across the hall.

That was not an answer that was easy for Dana to deal with, but she lied, "Oh, well I thought she was with you so when I knocked and no one answered I figured you guys might be here, but I guess her and Nicole went to the lounge or maybe to get a smoothie or something. Thanks though Chase. I'll see you later, I've really got to go find Zoey." Dana left as fast as her feet would carry her.

After shutting the door Chase gave Logan a look that said, "What was that?" to which Logan simply shrugged and picked up a magazine to hide his smile behind because she came.

* * *

Meanwhile Nicole really wanted Chase and Zoey together, but with them flipping through the yearbook to discuss who to choose for student council she naturally got distracted by the pictures of the cute boys. She couldn't help getting into all of her discussion of the boys in their grade. She didn't realize what she was doing, specifically to Chase and Zoey, until Chase made up an excuse and left. Nicole continued on as if nothing was up and continued to go through guys, but decided to try and make up for her mistake and eventually decided to comment on Chase and see if progress could be made.

Finding his picture as the next boys' picture on the page they were on, Nicole pointed to it and said, "Aw, Chase, the girl that gets him is so lucky. Don't you think so Zo?"

"Yeah, of course, Chase is…great," Zoey said uncomfortably.

Nicole continued to prod, "Yeah, he's cute and sweet and funny, I can't believe he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Mm-hmm," Zoey agreed shortly. She took a look at the yearbook and pointed to the next guy, "Henry Maton, I don't think I've ever met him, but he looks okay. Do you know him?" This was a first. Zoey hadn't actively participated in the conversation until now, until she wanted the subject changed. Nicole decided that maybe progress had indeed been made, or at least a point, and she let the subject be changed and gave her thoughts on Henry.

* * *

After coming up with something urgently needing to be answered Dana stopped in at Zoey and Nicole's room, just to cover her tracks and then returned to her room alone where she made a decision about her and Logan and they next time they were alone she was going to tell him.

The next time they were alone didn't come until the next morning. Everyone headed down to breakfast but they straggled behind in their rooms and once Logan's room was empty Dana joined him in it.

She had her arms crossed in front of her, but not in a defensive way, but an uncomfortable way. Upon seeing her Logan didn't advance as he normally would have, he could tell something was up.

"It's time for this to end," Dana said getting right to the point. Logan stayed silent, he wanted to know why, but he didn't want to seem like he cared enough to ask why. And in the silence Dana continued, "It's just that yesterday we were almost caught three times and our plans changed one extra time on top of that and it's just becoming a hassle."

Logan responded how he was supposed to respond, "I really never thought I'd be saying this to you, but you're right. I hadn't really thought about it but it has become too much work, not really worth it anymore."

Dana kept it all up and agreed, "Right and the only way that it wouldn't be difficult would be if we told people and I'd rather just stop."

"Yeah, totally," Logan agreed.

Dana released the breath she didn't know she was holding and said, "Alright, well, I guess we're going back to not being able to tolerate each other at all."

"You got that right," Logan replied with a snicker and a light laugh that made her feel like ever thing would be fine, it was all okay.

Dana smiled, relieved for reasons she didn't want to think about, and gestured to the door as she said, "I'll go first." Logan nodded and she walked to the door. She stopped at the door, turned around, met his eyes and said, "Bye Logan."

"Bye," he replied once she had turned around and opened the door because with her looking at him he just couldn't seem to get the word out.

* * *

"Well, we couldn't decide on anyone to ask, plus asking we just felt awkward about asking someone to be part of student government, so we got Mr. Bender to lend us his classroom after school and anyone who wants either position open can just come and interview for it," Zoey replied answering a question Nicole had asked her about what her and Chase had decided.

Still missing Dana and Logan, the gang was all seated around a table eating breakfast. Quinn wasn't so much eating, but scribbling in that red notebook of hers again until Zoey had answered Nicole's question at which point she looked up and interested for a minute.

Dana arrived, ate her breakfast, and didn't join in on the various conversations during breakfast. Logan arrived minutes later and, like Dana, didn't seem to be talking unless talked to. Their gazes stayed away from each other, but they were both fine. They both came to breakfast as they normally would because everything was fine. This was the way it was supposed to be, it was just supposed to end. They were fine. But they didn't fight that day, or the next. And their lack of arguments seemed to go unnoticed. Everyone complained when they fought, but no one noticed when they didn't.

Chase and Zoey sat in Mr. Bender's classroom for an hour (playing would you rather) before someone actually came to volunteer for a student council position, and the person that came was definitely not one they were expecting.

"Hey Quinn, what's up?" Zoey greeted Quinn as she came through the door rather uncomfortably.

Quinn took one of the seats across from then and explained, "Well, if there is still a position open I was hoping you might consider me for it."

"You want to be part of student government?" Chase asked surprised for getting involved in things with other people wasn't something that Quinn usually did.

"Honestly I'd much rather spend my time trying to figure out how to make things invisible, but the other day Dean Rivers told me that if I want to keep the scholarship I'm here on I'm going to have to branch out of just the science club now that they've finally let me join, and contribute more to the school. And student government doesn't really sound like something I'd like, but at least it'd be with you guys," Quinn responded in a rush.

It took a second of processing for Chase and Zoey to comprehend what Quinn had said, but once they did Zoey excitedly said, "Okay, so we have both the treasure and secretary positions open still so you can have whichever one you want."

With a spreading smile and excited eyes Quinn checked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Zoey confirmed, "we'd love to have you as either."

Quinn jumped up squealing and nearly crushed Zoey hugging her so tightly. Anticipating Quinn's next move, Chase attempted to dodge Quinn's open arms, but she caught him in it nearly crushing him as well.

As she released Chase, Quinn offered, "I don't really care which position I have, so whatever one you end up needing filled, I'll take it."

At that moment, Annie Wu (one of the candidates that dropped out of the race) entered the room tentatively asking, "Are you still holding interviews?"

"Yeah, come on in Annie," Zoey welcomed.

Annie took the seat next to Quinn across from Chase and Zoey and Zoey, already knowing Annie, skipped right to the point, "So what position do you want?"

"Secretary," Annie replied readily.

Zoey looked to Chase and, knowing what she was looking for, he nodded. Zoey informed, "The position's yours."

"Seriously?" Annie asked quite shocked at the lack of interview the supposed interview was.

"Yeah, we know you and you'll be good at this, we believe in you. If it wasn't awkward to ask someone to take a position and if we knew you had the time to do this, we would have actually offered you the position," Zoey admitted.

"Wow, well thank you so much. I knew working with you guys would be great. I was so glad to hear that you won somehow," Annie said with a friendly smile.

"Thanks," Zoey replied graciously. Glancing at the clock and noting that they still had the classroom for a while, Zoey decided they might as well jump right in, "Well, since we're all here we might as well get started on some of the things on the list of stuff Dean Rivers gave me of things we have to handle. Oh, Annie, you know Quinn right? She's our treasurer."

Annie nodded and smiled warmly at Quinn as she answered, "Yeah, we're two of the five girls in the science club together."

"But there we can't hold office," Quinn complained.

"I know! It's completely ridiculous. The guys there are so..ugh! We really need to recruit more girls and overthrow them," Annie joined in.

"I like the way you think," Quinn complimented.

"Okay well getting back on track," Zoey interrupted before they ran out of time, "The first thing we should decide is a regular meeting time. Also, before I forget, we all have to attend the student council meetings on Wednesday's at three because they're for every grade and I'm not sure what happens there, but Dean Rivers said it's mandatory for everyone on every grade's student government so clear your schedules for then. Okay so Wednesdays right after school are taken, when is everyone else free?"

As Annie began detailing her very packed schedule, Chase was a bit zoned out. He was in a daze over Zoey, a smile on his face because he knew she would be great at this.

* * *

Thanks to the mandatory student council meeting, the next day at the mandatory football tryouts, Zoey, Quinn, and Annie were in the long line to tell Coach Grier their excuse for missing.

The cheerleaders, Tiffany, Morgan, and Jenna, were the only ones in front of them in the line.

Tiffany's nose was an ever growing shade of brown as she said to Coach Grier smiling sweetly, "While we love football and we know you're going to build a great team we can't play if we're going to be on the side lines rooting our team on so since we're cheerleaders there's really no point to us trying out."

With the three girls smiling at him so innocently Coach Grier's face softened and he replied, "Well I guess you're right, cheerleaders can't be on the field playing and on the sidelines cheering so you three are excused."

The cheerleaders left and Zoey, Quinn, and Annie approached a now very stern faced Coach Grier. Zoey began steadily, "Coach Grier we're the new sophomore student government representatives and Dean Rivers has scheduled mandatory meetings for us right now actually."

"Ah," Coach Grier groaned agitatedly.

Noticing his grumpy attitude Zoey quickly produced a back up, "Oh and here's the note from Dean Rivers demanding that we attend that meeting."

Coach Grier looked at the note briefly, crumpled it in his hand, and said through gritted teeth, "Fine, go."

Zoey, Quinn, and Annie hurried away.

* * *

Meanwhile, standing near the end of a very long line of girls, Dana was growing restless, "Are they ever going to start this?"

"Just be patient," Nicole said in a tone of voice that Dana found annoyingly chipper at the moment.

"Yeah, well I'm not patient," Dana replied before she got out of line started walking determinedly toward Coach Grier all the way at the front of the line. Dana was acting rashly, but she hadn't really been in the nicest of moods lately.

Turning to Lola, Nicole predicted, "This probably isn't going to go well."

"Nope," Lola agreed.

* * *

Interrupting Coach Grier as someone was making their case to leave Dana demanded, "What do we have to do as part of the tryout?"

Coach Grier was distracted and still trying to listen to the blond on crutches who was still talking to him as well so when he replied it was just automatic, "Try to throw the ball to Kenny down there at the other side of the field."

Dana picked up a ball off the ground and threw the ball hurtling in a perfect spiral right to Kenny who was over fifty yards away. Coach Grier's attention was finally fully captured by Dana when the ball left her hand. He ignored the blond and said, "Do that again."

"No," Dana responded defiantly, "I showed up, I tried, but even though I could do it many more times you couldn't pay me enough to get me to play on the team so can I go now?"

Coach Grier happened to appreciate a girl with a backbone and honestly he was to tired to try and argue with her so he conceded, "Fine, tell me your name and I'll check you off."

Dana hurried back to her room. She didn't know why she had been feeling so weird lately; it was like she was always on edge. She paced around her room for a minute until suddenly there was a knock at her door. As soon as she swung her door open their was a pair of lips eagerly attached to hers. She knew them well now, Logan. As he walked her backwards into her room and shutting the door, she sighed becoming completely at ease.

He released her lips, but he didn't release her from his arms encircling her waist as he explained, "So I was just sitting over in my room, thinking, and I realized we never had a goodbye kiss. Then I saw you over here all by yourself and I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity."

And she was definitely glad he did come over. And she let herself change her mind and decided that maybe it didn't have to end and just because they carried on didn't mean it would come to mean anything. She responded, "Oh you've been thinking, so have I. I was thinking maybe if you were to find a very secure place we could regularly go then maybe it wouldn't have to be a goodbye kiss."

Logan skipped over thinking of it as good news and found something to nit pick on, "Why do I have to be the one to find someplace for us to go? Why can't you do it?"

As she ran a finger slowly, seductively down his chest, Dana responded with as sultry tone, "Because you want this more than me." She didn't let him reply, kissing him to purposefully leave him dizzy. She needed to make him want this and find a place for them, because she really wanted it.

When Lola returned an hour later she found Logan in their room again arguing with Dana, but she didn't stop and wonder why she kept finding them together.

On Thursday Logan came up beside Dana as she walked down a hallway between classes, but keeping up appearances he didn't look at her, nor her at him, as they walked.

"Found a place," Logan began getting right to the point.

"Really? So soon," Dana replied pleased to hear that he had been looking. But she had some concerns, "You know if we get caught in this supposed place I will beat you so badly that the only way another girl will ever look at you again is with disgust. So are you sure this place is safe?"

Knowing that Dana was a girl of her word and if they did get caught it would be very painful for him, Logan, to his agitation, replied, "I'll keep looking."

And they went their separate ways.

* * *

Friday finally came. Chase and Zoey had spent almost all their after school hours together, but also with Quinn and Annie sorting out and getting caught up on all of their student government responsibilities. Logan spent his time looking for a safe place and Dana waited for him to find one. After that alone time after tryouts Dana told him that the next time she'd kiss him would be in their own place or not at all. This was an arrangement that left both of them very much wanting a place to be found as quickly as possible. Lola and Michael spent most of the week at drama and football practice respectively. Nicole spent the week looking forward to the weekend but dreading Friday for the idea of tryouts made her very nervous.

As promised at the end of the day when the time for tryouts finally came, Lola was right by Nicole's side. They entered the gym to find it packed with girls. It was only tryouts for the sophomore girls and neither Nicole nor Lola knew that there were so many girls in their class. There was well over one hundred girls all looking nervous and honestly, impressive.

_Welcome to the jungle_

_We've got fun 'n' games_

_We got everything you want_

_Honey, we know the names_

_We are the people that can find_

_Whatever you may need_

_If you got the money, honey_

_We got your disease_

Nicole's eyes looked over the nervous girls who were paling like her and saw only the ones who looked confident as they stretched and prepared for what was to come. Nicole said thanks to her nervous stomach, "I think I'm going to go make some oatmeal."

_In the jungle_

_Welcome to the jungle_

_Watch it bring you to your_

_knees, knees_

_I wanna watch you bleed_

Lola stopped her as Nicole turned around to head for the bathrooms and looked her firm in the eye as she instructed, "No, Nicole, you are not going to get sick. You can do this. You are peppy and perfect for this and you will do great. Now let's both put on a smile and confidence because right now we're cheerleaders."

_Welcome to the jungle_

_We take it day by day_

_If you want it you're gonna bleed_

Nicole nodded letting the sick feeling sink back down a bit. Lola hooked their arms together and dragged them off into the sea of girls. Nicole was still immensely intimidated, but Lola wore a confident friendly smile for she decided that it fit the role.

_But it's the price you pay_

_And you're a very sexy girl_

_That's very hard to please_

Tiffany appeared out of no where it seemed and blew a whistle. She directed all the girls to take a seat on the bleachers and once they had she told them what the tryouts would consist of, "First we see if you can follow a simple cheer. If we don't think you're doing well enough you will be asked to leave. Then we will see how flexible you are. Since this team is new we are willing to train you to do some of the gymnastics, but you have to show a certain flexibility and willingness to learn otherwise we will ask you to leave. Then, just in case you got lucky in doing well on the first cheer, we'll have a slightly harder one and if you can't keep up you'll be out. You will then wait here while we make our decisions and if you are selected you will receive instructions for tonight's game where we will be cheering. Let's get started."

_You can taste the bright lights_

_But you won't get them for free_

_In the jungle_

With all the girls out on the floor, they were taught a simple cheer. Tiffany, Morgan, and Jenna roamed around them as they tried to follow one of the older cheerleader's moves and tapped girls on the shoulder and told them to leave if they weren't doing well enough. Lola, determined to do well at her role as a cheerleader, kept up flawlessly. Nicole's nerves seemed to calm the minute they started and she was back to her usual self. She was a little shaky on some of the moves, but she was mostly getting them and, unlike a lot of the girls who were asked to leave, she at least had a very bright smile on her face.

_Welcome to the jungle_

_Feel my, my, my serpentine_

_I, I wanna hear you scream_

For the next round the girls were asked to do something to demonstrate any gymnastic ability. Lola had been attempting to add to her special skills on her acting resume hoping it would help her get roles and gymnastics happened to be one of the things she learned, she did a perfect back handspring. Nicole had also taken gymnastics, but she was seven at the time and her instructor told her she was rather clumsy, but that didn't stop her from trying. She attempted a cartwheel, which went surprisingly well.

The next cheer that the girls left (only about thirty at this point) had to do was quicker with more intricate choreography. There was more kicks, but lucky for Nicole, that was one of the things that she seemed to be okay at. None of the girls left were tapped out during the last cheer, but after it was over they were all told to stay and wait for Tiffany, Morgan, and Jenna to return with their decision. They were supposed to consult with the coach over the phone since the only coach PCA could get being so new was one they had to share with another school so most of the instruction was left up to the three girls who had spent a great deal of time training extensively.

* * *

As she walked across campus, Dana suddenly felt a presence by her. She didn't need to turn and look at him to know that it was Logan.

"I found a place. Meet me in the library in five minutes," he said and left before she could say anything.

And three minutes later Dana walked into the library to find Logan there and waiting.

Dana immediately said what she had wanted to say before he walked away, "I know it's not a popular place to hang out, but it is still a public place so how do you think that this will work?"

"Well this isn't exactly it. Follow me," Logan said and began zig-zaging them through the aisles of books until they reached an empty corner that was poorly lit and it had a staircase that went down. Logan went down and Dana followed.

"What is this place?" Dana asked, never knowing that it existed.

"This is where they keep all the old year books, newspapers, and book overflows. It is open to students, but no one comes down here because no one knows it's here," Logan explained as he stopped a few feet from the bottom of the staircase, which was an open area. There was a couch, a chair and a coffee table near the stairs, a little hiding alcove under the stairs, and all the rows of dusty, untouched material stretched the other direction. He turned to her and explained, "This took me a while to find since I don't spend much time in the library, but I've kept an eye on this place since I found it. No one comes down here, not at all. And one of the little half windows doesn't have a lock on it and it's not hooked up to an alarm and you can crawl through it from either side because it's next to the stairs, so we could come here even when the library is closed." Dana didn't say anything; this place was too good to be true. But, in the silence, Logan was nervous that she was going to reject it so he continued, "And if we did here anyone coming, which we would because, as you probably noticed, that top stair has a creek to it, we could just hide under the stairs. There's also the couch, which looks very comfortable, kind of like your couch was the other day." Dana still didn't say anything, she was actually nervous. She didn't want to seem too happy that he found a place, but she was so glad that he found a place. Logan realized how he must have sounded, how all of it must have looked and said in defense, "This doesn't mean anything though. I mean, yeah I did find a place, but it doesn't change anything. I don't like you and this is still just casual."

"Of course," Dana replied immediately. She told herself she would have been worried if he didn't think of this whole thing like that because that's how she thought of it. She let her eyes continue to scan the space and still not look at him though he had kept his gaze solely on her.

"So…" he said prompting her to respond and let him know what was going to happen, or if anything was going to happen.

"So…" she imitated just to make him wait, suffering a bit longer. But still feeling him stare at her was starting to make her uncomfortable so she said as she glanced at him through the corner of her eye, "I guess it doesn't have to be over then."

And that was all it took. There was no time for smiles for the space between them instantly became non-existent and their mouths found each other with desperate need and undeniable want.

_This gonna be difficult_

_The decisions I have to make_

_I think that this could get dangerous_

_It's a chance I'm willing to take

* * *

_

Tiffany, Morgan, and Jenna walked back out in their purple PCA cheer outfits. Morgan carried a box that held many more cheer outfits, but not enough for all the nervous girls sitting, waiting on the bleachers. However, the box did hold more uniforms than the previously mentioned maximum number of girls that was supposed to be allowed on the squad.

As captain (self-decided), Tiffany took the lead, "Your fates have been decided. A few of you actually did well and made the team without skepticism. Then there was a few of you who didn't really come close to making the team. What was surprising was that most of you fit into a middle category of maybe's. We have to cheer at tonight's game though, and if anyone is going to be prepared for it we have to start practice now so we can't keep tryouts going, except that's exactly what we're going to do. We are giving twenty of you uniforms and everything you do with us will continue to be your tryout. You will learn a cheer that we will perform at half time, if you mess it up you will be cut. You will also be expected to cheer every time something goes in PCA's favor, but we will not be letting you know when to cheer for we expect you to be familiar with football since a huge part of our season is spent cheering for them. If your name is on this sheet then you have a chance and you will stay here for practice, if not then you've been cut already and you should leave." Tiffany then walked to the nearest wall and taped up the list of twenty names.

There was a stampede toward the paper, but Nicole hung back burying her face in her hands and groaning to Lola, "I can't look. Can you look for me?"

"Sure," Lola agreed and pushed her way through the crowd of girls to check out the list. She returned to Nicole with a smile and good news, "Apparently my acting skills are fantastic because I made the team, and so did you."

Nicole let out a high pitched squeal as she jumped up and hugged Lola excitedly.

Trying to get out of Nicole's very long lasting jumping embrace, Lola said, "Come on, I've got to go tell Tiffany I don't actually want to be on the team."

"You're not going to accept the position?" Nicole asked surprised. She knew that Lola was trying to act the part of a cheerleader, but she never even thought that if she was given a place on the team she wouldn't accept it.

"Of course I'm not, I'm an actress not a cheerleader," Lola explained.

With Morgan holding the box of uniforms for her, Tiffany and her crew came up to Lola and Nicole and held out a uniform to Lola and said, "Congratulations on making the team. We're confident you'll be a great addition, especially with that back handspring." This explained why Lola made the team, her gymnastic ability combined with the fact that she took direction well while being vocal and smiling, made her the perfect cheerleader.

Looking at the uniform and then back up at Tiffany, Lola rejected politely and firmly, "No thanks."

"What?" Tiffany asked looking both confused and offended.

"I don't want to be on the team," Lola explained.

Tiffany looked dumfounded as she responded, "But we offered you a position. You don't turn down a chance to be a cheerleader."

"Except I just did," Lola retorted with just a bit of attitude.

Tiffany scoffed but let it go, if the girl wanted to throw away her social status she wasn't going to stop her. She turned to Nicole and asked, "So do you still want to be on the squad?"

"Yes!" Nicole immediately screeched.

Tiffany roughly shoved a uniform into Nicole's arms and warned, "If you want to remain on this team you will have to improve because you were a maybe."

Nicole didn't make a single move, she didn't even breath until Tiffany and her lackey's finally lifted their intimidating gaze from her. As they were looking at her she realized that Tiffany eerily reminded her of Regina George and started to wonder what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

That evening as the sun was setting the first PCA junior varsity game of the season was starting. Nicole was in the track surrounding the field among eighteen (one had been cut during practice) girls who donned the purple uniform. She was nervous, but not as nervous as she had been.

Nicole didn't know anything about football, but she was expected to. Every time PCA did something worth cheering for she was supposed to know and she was supposed to cheer. Luckily, while she was at practice, Lola had helped her out and told Michael who agreed to discretely give her a nod every time she should be cheering. Michael would be on the sidelines in the direction she would have to look to pay attention to the game so no suspicions should arise. But if Michael did get to play things were going to get more difficult for Nicole would have to look to the crowd, to Lola, who was sitting in the front row and happened to be a football fan so she could help her out, but if caught getting help she would then be off the team. It was risky, but she wanted to be on the team and she didn't have another choice.

Lola sat in the front of the bleachers by herself. She knew everyone was coming to cheer Michael and Nicole on, but with all the people there no one else had found her yet and she hadn't found them.

Dana sat buried somewhere in the middle of the bleachers wondering where everyone was. She hadn't seen anyone but Logan since the end of classes and she didn't know if they were meeting somewhere or not. It occurred to her that she could have asked Logan, but they didn't really talk when they were together.

Chase was in the top row in the corner of the bleachers. Zoey had said she'd be a few minutes late because she had to meet with Dean Rivers and let him know all the stuff they had done, but kick off was fifteen minutes ago now and he thought she would have been there. As the bleachers became more and more packed he began to worry that she wouldn't find him and then he wouldn't get to spend the night with her. It was like the entire world was crammed into those bleachers that night and his hope that he would be the one in the world she would find was ever sinking with every minute that passed.

Suddenly Chase received a pleasant surprise. "Hi," Zoey said as she approached and sat next to him. "What's happening? Is Nicole doing alright?"

Surprised and a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth because he had been found, Chase replied, "Hi, yeah, Nicole's doing great. No much has happened though. It's just begun." Chase couldn't resist asking, "Where is everyone else though? I couldn't find anyone and with this crowd I'm surprised you found me."

"Of course I found you," Zoey immediately responded, but continued, "you looked cold."

"It is unusually cold out here for the beginning of October," Chase commented.

Zoey dug in her backpack and said, "I know which is why I brought this," and she pulled out a blanket. She wrapped it around both of them. It was actually a PCA throw so they fit right in with the sea of purple and gold that seemed to cover the bleachers and part of the field.

Zoey snuggled very close to Chase because it was cold and the throw was small. She didn't say anything about, she just did it. Chase glanced at her, smiled, and returned his focus to the field, or at least his eyes returned to the field, but his mind never left her.

* * *

Logan had snuck up behind Dana and sat on the row behind her. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "You know you're supposed to show your school spirit and wear the school colors to these type of things."

Dana shivered, but it was cold out, that was all. She kept her eyes on the field as she responded, "Well you can't show school spirit if you don't have any."

"Then why are you here?" Logan asked though he knew the answer.

Dana answered though she knew he knew, "To support our friends of course."

There was a beat of silence, but then Logan leaned forward a bit more and as his eyes transfixed on her lips he whispered, "So do you want to go to the library?"

She turned her head to find his only inches away as she responded looking at him incredulously, "Well since we're here for our friends I'd say we have to stay."

He didn't move a single centimeter, Logan just lingered in the same close spot as he argued, "Come on, there's so many people here, they'd never be able to tell if we left. This could be the last chance to sneak away without anyone knowing for the entire weekend. So library?"

He had a point, he had a point that in his proximity she was really liking right now. She smirked and responded, "No, no library. Bleachers?"

"Really? Most girls don't like the idea of under the bleaches, you actually want to?" Logan said getting excited at the new idea.

Dana stood up and leaned into him and whispered to him, "Well why don't you come and find out." She sauntered away and once she had gotten a safe distance so suspicions wouldn't arise, Logan got up and followed, trying to catch up with her.

* * *

At half time Nicole managed to do the cheer perfectly, but when half time was over Coach Grier decided to put Michael in the game as cornerback since the first string player hadn't been performing well.

_Are you going to live your life wondering, _

_Standing in the back, looking around? _

Michael took his first steps onto the field and followed his teammates and got into position.

_Are you gonna waste your time thinking _

_How you've grown up _

_Or how you missed out?_

The ref blew the whistle and the other team's quarterback threw the ball to their wide receiver. This was it, it was his chance and with the world watching, Michael took it. He tackled the wide receiver who had caught the ball thrown to him in the other team's end zone. He scored PCA a safety.

_T-T-T-T-Things are never going be the way you want _

_Where's it gonna to get you acting serious? _

Nicole didn't know what to do. None of the other cheerleaders were cheering, but Michael seemed to look happy and Tiffany, Morgan, and Jenna were staring at them, watching to see what they would do. She glanced to Lola who was nodding vigiorously, but no one else was cheering and what if Lola was wrong, she would loose her place.

_T-T-T-T-Things are never gonna be quite what you want _

_Even at twenty-five you got to start sometime _

Trusting Lola, Nicole took a chance and started cheering among the silent cheerleaders. And with the world watching she cheered loudly and she was peppy and quite a few of the other girls followed her direction. The ones that didn't were cut. She received a small nod of approval from Tiffany, but a still skeptical one so she knew she was still going to have to watch her every step since she wanted to remain on the team.

_I'm on my feet _

_I'm on the floor _

_I'm good to go _

And with a world of students around them Chase decided to take advantage of the opportunity he was being given and he pulled the throw around him and Zoey tighter so they were closer together. He pulled it closed around them so no cold air could get in and so he was squished together with her. He looked at her and smiled innocently. Her eyes met his and she smiled bashfully. It turned out the blanket was a really good idea.

_All i need is just to hear a song I know _

_I wanna always feel like part of this was mine _

_I wanna fall in love tonight

* * *

_

**A/N: Direction Notes:** At the end I would let the camera linger on Chase and Zoey smiling their different smiles to each other (as cheesy as that sounds). Then instead of fading out from that scene I would let the camera drift downward and sink into the underneath of the bleachers. It would be a pitch black screen, but knowing what was going on under the bleachers, uneven breathing and maybe a little rustling of clothing would be heard in the darkness just to show that Dana was indeed serious when she told Logan to meet her there.

**Thank you to LadyKatyUltimateFan** for helping me figure out some of the cheerleading stuff and I'm sorry if I'm still getting it wrong. Also, I don't really know much about football so if that's wrong I'm sorry for that as well.

Did anyone notice **_The Princess Bride_** reference in this chapter, because it was meant as a reference to that meaning Chase was saying more than the words he was saying.

And thank you to all the people who read my rant on season three. I appreciate your time, but since it's not the type of thing that's supposed to be on her I have deleted it. I am finding the new season entertaining so far, but despite their lazy explanations, I still think it's out of character.

Speaking of season three, I have a little **reader involvement competition** for you. And **thank you for all the costume suggestions**, I think I'll be serving everyone's interest with the costumes, at least I hope to. But back to the point, in the upcoming chapters there will be small parts of cheerleaders and football players so I need names. Now normally I would just use friends' names or get them from books but I decided to make it a little more fun. There are two ways you can get your name used in the story:

**-One:** The phrase that had been popping up in newspapers that I mentioned last chapter was not found. I realized it was rather buried and difficult so I'm giving you the phrase. The phrase was "failure to connect the dots". It was used referring to Zoey and is located somewhere before the first line break. There was an event a few years ago and since then this phrase has been used liberally in newspapers referring to the government and something that they "failed to connect the dots" on. If you can tell me what this is you still get deemed the most politically savvy reader and you get the biggest OC role that I have up for grabs at the moment.

**-Two:** The other way you can get your name in the story is by telling me what was written on the dry erase board of Chase's door when Zoey was standing by it looking in on him and Rebecca at the end of the first episode of season three. I noticed it and found it inspiring and once someone gets it I'll release a short drabble that was inspired by it. But anyone who gets it will get to have a character named after them. But I can't actually guarantee that all of these characters will stick around.

**Next Episode/Chapter:** The next episode/chapter is titled "Costumes of Us." It will contain the Halloween dance and who everyone is going with may be a bit of a surprise, but the ending is definitely a jaw dropper. I can't really say anything else without giving a lot away, but I'll definitely try to have it up before Halloween but because of my unpredictable schedule I can't make any promises.

Damn NBC (this comment will make sense at the end of chapter six, which is also big and I just had to say it because really damn NBC).

My penname may change. Why and what it may change to are on my profile. If you have thoughts on it just PM me and let me know.

**Okay, that's everything finally, I think. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Though it may have dragged a bit, I swear it is all important. **

**Thank you for reading and please REVIEW and let me know what you thought!**

**-Hopeless Romantic 86 (for now)**


	6. 5: Costumes Of Us

**A/N: Thank you so much to all the fantastic people who reviewed! I'm so sorry that this took me so long and it's so far after Halloween**. This is what I've been up to since my last update: I was in a car accident (I'm alright and it wasn't my fault, I was rear-ended), I fell down my stairs at my condo (again, I'm alright, just klutzy), I had killer midterms, two enormous papers that were thirty percent of my grade each (and one more that's due soon), got something published again (just an essay this time), I have three tutoring clients now to keep me busy, over a thousand pages in reading, very little sleep, and now I'm sick. Oh, and this chapter is forty-five pages (good luck) so it took me a while.

**Thank you to lilflowr33 (Liz) and x3 I Heart December x3 (Erika) for the costume ideas that were used. Thank you to all of you who also made suggestions though I didn't go with them I really hope you like what I choose. **

Also, **Lovely Sheiikah** guessed what "failure to connect the dots" refers to so I officially deem her the **most politically savvy person on here**. And incase you were wondering that phrase refers to how the government had lots of information that an attack like 9/11 could happen, but failed to put it together (failed to connect the dots, as the newspapers always put it).

And I hope I got everyone who guessed the right dry erase board phrase in the story (I know they're brief, but they will return in a couple of chapters). If I missed your name I am so sorry.

Oh and there's a couple of insults between Dana and Logan towards the beginning that I'm not going to take credit for (the pants ones). When I wrote them they sounded really familiar, so either I thought of them a long time ago and don't remember, or I heard or read them somewhere so they are not my own. So this disclaimer is basically to be safe.

**Finally the music**; there's a lot because it's a dance, but putting in all the lyrics all the time would be even longer so I just added lyrics at specific points so you would know where the song was at that moment. The songs: "Junkie" by The Jane Doe's, "The Not So Pretty Princess" by Jude, "Monster Mash" as performed by The Misfits (because a Halloween Dance has to have it and it is better than the traditional cheesy version), "Golden Years" by David Bowie, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness, "Brighter Than Sunshine" by Aqualung, "Under Pressure" by Queen, "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder, "Cheating" by Jettingham, "Shout" as performed by Grounded, "High" by James Blunt, and one last song but I can't give it away because it has to do with the surprise at the end.

**On to the chapter:)

* * *

**

It had been three weeks since Michael played in his first high school football game, Nicole donned the PCA cheer uniform for the first time, Chase and Zoey sat huddled in a blanket, and Dana and Logan hid in the darkness beneath the bleachers. Yet despite the fact that three weeks had passed not much had changed for any of them.

Technically Michael was still second string, but when Coach Grier did put him in games he played better than the first string so it was expected that eventually he was going to be made first string.

Nicole was still struggling to stay on the cheer team. In the three weeks only five girls had made mistakes and been cut, so at least four more absolutely had to go which left Nicole always striving to be perfect in order to keep her position.

Lola had mostly been busy with the drama club and her activities trying to add to her special skills of her resumes. But after spending an afternoon with Michael hearing all about Chase and Zoey and catching a glimpse of them cozy at the football game, she had also been maintaining a close watch on them.

But for Chase and Zoey nothing was different. Spending more than one Friday night now huddled together in a blanket at a football game didn't seem to have an effect on them. Secretly though, they both looked forward to Friday nights.

Dana and Logan were also the same. They had their library sessions where talking was highly discouraged and sticking to the rules of the relationship was getting a bit harder. And nothing changed, they didn't like each other. But on Friday the thirteenth at one of their regular meetings Logan did something out of place. Before he kissed her he brushed some hair out of her face that had fallen to lay across her right eye. It was a quick movement and neither of them really paid any attention to it. But what was strange was that he was only there to make out with her, that was all they had together, but the hair on her face wasn't in the way of her lips and the first thing he did was brush it away anyway.

But on the surface everyone was still the same. They were like Quinn who still scribbled furiously in her red notebook. But they never asked questions about the notebook like other things that lay beneath the surface; they just ignored what they weren't ready to know.

Things began to change, and those things beneath the surfaces began to get thrown into their paths when Zoey came to lunch with Chase and with some news.

Everyone was already at their table when they arrived and as soon as they sat down Zoey jumped right in with the news, "We just came from Dean Rivers' office and he said we get to have a Halloween dance this year."

Logan was quick to ask, "What about the haunted house? It's a PCA tradition to scare the little kids."

"But since it was handled so poorly last year," Zoey began with a pointed look to Logan, "he just decided to cancel it and let us have a dance this Saturday if we can get it planned fast enough."

Looking slightly panicked Nicole said at a very fast pace, "But it's Tuesday, it's impossible to get it planned that fast."

"Especially with the budget he gave everyone," Chase added the annoyance clear in his voice.

Zoey sighed and looked to Chase as she assured again, "We'll make it work." She explained to everyone, "Dean Rivers split up tasks between the grades and us sophomore class representatives get to be in charge of decorations. Senior reps have entertainment and the biggest budget. Juniors have food and refreshments and a decent sized budget. And freshmen have advertisement and ticket sales and we only have a slightly larger budget than they do and they were basically only given money for poster boards."

Michael was the first to ask, "Tickets? They're charging? How much?"

"Three dollars at the door, but the budget for stuff like this is so low, they really should be charging more," Chase responded seeming annoyed at the limitations of their task still.

"We'll make it work," Zoey reassured again, but more than it sounded more like she was saying it to calm her own worries rather than Chase's.

"So what all this stuff you've been saying about the dance means is that the dance is going to suck then?" Dana deduced pessimistically.

"It's not going to be that bad," Zoey said hopefully and added, "we get to dress up in costumes."

At this Nicole got even more excited and said very rushed in her eagerness, "I'm going to be something cute. Oh, maybe a bunny! Or a pink princess. What about you guys?"

As Nicole made her rushed comments Logan caught Dana's eye sitting directly across from him and very discretely jerked his head.

"Well I guess I won't try being a vampire again since everyone seemed to think I was a magician," Chase said recalling the previous year.

Dana knew exactly what Logan wanted, he wanted them to leave and meet. She rolled her eyes, letting him know that she really wasn't that interested. But then she resisted a smile and winked at him. She knew exactly what to do to get them out without suspicion so she dove in responding to Chase first, "Well Chase, you could always borrow a pair of Logan's pants and go as a kid with a recent growth spurt."

Logan was indeed shorter than both Chase and Michael, and everyone was now laughing at what Dana had said about him, but the comment didn't make him mad, it just told him how they were getting out. He caught on immediately and replied, "Or you could borrow a pair of Dana's pants and go as a real man."

Everyone was once again laughing until Chase stopped and realized he had also been insulted. It appeared though Logan had caught on to the direction they were supposed to be heading; he hadn't actually thought it out. Chase responded offended, "Hey."

Realizing his mistake Logan ripped his stare away from Dana and glanced to Chase as he said, "Sorry man, I was aiming for her."

Dana snickered and continued on, "It's so sad, you can't even insult me properly anymore. You really must be getting dumber by the minute."

"At least I'm not getting uglier by the minute like you," Logan was quick to respond. The group watched attentively to see what would happen next.

"Well, if your definition of good looking is you, then I'd rather have you call me ugly because it means I look the opposite of you, which is actually really good," Dana argued, but as she did so she slid her flip flop clad foot ever so slowly up his right foot and calf and stopping at his knee when she concluded.

His attention completely captured by Dana's foot and its travel and the potential destination of its travel, Logan hadn't exactly been paying attention to what Dana had said. Of course that was what she wanted; it would help bring it all to an end. He managed to retort lamely, "That didn't make any sense."

Dana slid her foot off of his knee and placed it firmly on the chair in between his legs. She tried to seem absolutely outraged as she spoke, but knowing what was to come she barely managed. She yelled, "Not to someone who's getting dumber by the minute." And then she kicked his chair to send it and him flat on his back to the ground. She stood up and stormed away.

He swore angrily, got up and roughly put the chair up right and also stormed away. But as he walked away he could help but wear a cocky smirk. Sure, his head was throbbing from hitting the pavement with force thanks to the fact that she kicked his chair, but he knew what was coming next: the library.

And he was right; when he got there she was waiting. They both knew what they were there for so there wasn't any talking. Talking was never a necessary activity for them; in fact it wasn't usually a welcome activity.

Their backpacks carelessly tossed to the floor, they immediately, and typically, found themselves completely intertwined.

_I am a junkie  
and you are the moon  
streaming through my blood  
still I can't get enough of you_

As the kiss was promptly deepened, Dana pulled away slightly alarmed at what her hand had found as it ran through Logan's hair, "There's a bump on your head."

_Innocent at first_

Annoyed that she felt the need to talk, Logan said quickly, "Forcefully hitting the concrete will do that."

_One kiss turned curse_

His lips sought hers again, but despite the embrace they were still in she evaded him to clarify, "That's from me kicking your chair?"

_Sixteen  
My first love so true_

"Yeah, well I didn't get it walking over here," Logan replied frustrated.

_But no one told me  
What that kiss would do_

Dana didn't know what to say. She began to sputter awkwardly, "Oh…um…I'm"

_I am a junkie  
and you are the moon_

"No, no apologizing," Logan said cutting her off and catching on to why she was acting so weird. He explained, "Don't go apologizing because nothing between us matters. Apologizing is only for when something means something."

_Streaming through my blood  
Still I can't get enough of you_

Dana was silent, he had a point so she didn't feel the need to argue, but she also didn't know what to say next because this was different for them, this seemed different.

_I close my eyes and I see_

Since she wasn't arguing, Logan added, "Besides, I'll just get you back for it later."

_Hips and lips and eyes willing_

And now they were back to familiar territory. Mockingly Dana retorted, "Oh I'm _so _scared." But then she got a different idea and said with a sultry tone and playful glint in her eyes, "But maybe instead of you getting me back I could just make up for it."

_To satiate  
This insatiable dream_

That definitely wasn't something Logan was expecting Dana to say. He had to check and make sure he was taking her words the right way, "Make up for it?"

_I would do_

_I would do_

_I would do anything_

Dana pressed herself up against him ever so slightly more as she purposefully let her eyes drift to his lips and then back up to his eyes as she confirmed, "Yeah."

_I am a junkie  
and you are the moon_

"I think that would work," Logan muttered just before her lips found his again.

_Streaming through my blood  
Still I can't get enough of you_

The top stair creaked signaling that someone was coming down, but it didn't interrupt them kissing hungrily, never holding back, as they smoothly stumbled into the alcove under the stairs. This was a familiar path and separation or thought wasn't needed for them to get there.

Chase was the one who made his way down the stairs. One of his electives was that he was a teaching assistant for an eighth grade English teacher and she wanted all the extra copies in storage of Eli Wiesel's _Night_ so she could distribute them to those in class who didn't have a copy. All excess copies of books were in the library basement hence his purpose there.

Chase had never been in the library's basement and was surprised to find the couch and table and chair as it seemed kind of like a living room set. He was also confused by the fact that there were two backpacks on the floor and they looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't place them and moved on. As he was about to head into the rows and rows of tall dusty shelves he heard a noise. It sounded like a girl. He froze and listened carefully. Was there breathing? Is that what he could hear? But…what could possibly be going on?

It was true; as they were making out enthusiastically Logan had found the exact right spot on Dana's neck. His hand unknowingly stroked it ever so lightly and it being one of her weak spots, Dana moaned with satisfaction and pleasure.

It wasn't the first time one of them had done something to elicit a noise out of the other, but they had all been so much less passionate before. And the fact that noise would attract the attention of the stair creeker went unnoticed to the pair who was completely in the moment.

But that moment was disturbed when Chase's curiosity sent him searching and found Dana and Logan, under the stairs, Dana's back up against the wall, Logan so close to her that there wasn't any space between them, and there was the kissing, the clearly consensual kissing. It didn't make sense to Chase and he responded to the sight immediately on instinct and yelled, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Dana and Logan bolted apart. As they rushed out from under the stairs Logan calmly advised, "Calm down Chase, or you're going to make everyone upstairs come down here."

Chase just couldn't seem to comprehend it. He was panicked and confused and said completely freaking out, "Calm down? Calm down! This is….this is…EW!" Pointing at Dana he said, "You" and then pointed to Logan and said, "and you" he concluded, "…but…but…that's so wrong. This is so wrong."

"Settle down Sally," Dana demanded with a quip. She tried to assure, "It's not like it's a big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal it's _you _and _you_," Chase exclaimed pointing for emphasis again.

Chase started pacing still looking completely shocked and confused.

Logan reassured, "But it's not like it matters."

Chase couldn't seem to form full thoughts anymore and began to sputter, "But…but…but…"

Dana decided to explain, "Really Chase, this doesn't mean anything. Nothing has changed so it doesn't matter. We are not together because we really can't stand each other. We've just been having some no strings attached fun lately."

Chase stopped in his pacing and asked, "Lately? For how long?"

This question seemed to stump the pair. Both brows furrowed in thought as silence over came the pair until Logan remembered, "Um…when was the election?"

"Since the election?" Chase repeated his eyes widening again and looking completely freaked out again.

"Oh yeah," Dana confirmed as she also remembered.

"That was four weeks ago! You've been together a month? A month?" Chase continued to exclaim taking everything a lot more seriously than Dana and Logan did.

But Logan stressed clarifying, "We are not together. I could never actually like her."

"And I could never like the devil here," Dana said with a disgusted look thrown to Logan.

"My left arm feels numb and there's definitely chest pains. Oh God, I'm having a heart attack," delusional Chase panicked as he sat down on the couch.

"No you're not drama queen," Logan said getting increasingly agitated by the situation.

"I can't breath. I can't breath," Chase started to mutter as he started to hyperventilate.

Something occurred to Logan and he ignored Chase's overly dramatic reaction and rounded on Dana, "You know this is all your fault."

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Dana questioned angrily as she glared at Logan, hands on hips appropriately.

"You made that noise and got us caught, if you hadn't he would have never found us," Logan yelled in retort getting in her face as if that should intimidate her.

Of course Dana stood her ground unflinching; she couldn't believe that he was going with such a weak argument. She knew exactly how to deal with him, "By your reaction to me making noise it didn't seem like you thought it was a bad thing. But fine, if it's so awful I will always be absolutely silent from now on."

Logan didn't see that coming despite the fact that he should have. He didn't want silence, but he also didn't want to admit defeat, he sputtered, "Well…um…"

That was definitely the response Dana was expecting him to have. She decided to push him a bit farther because after all he had tried to blame her, "Besides I doubt you could make me do that again."

"Oh I could definitely get you to do that again," Logan said with a cocky smirk.

"Please, you don't even know what you did in the first place," Dana replied doubtfully.

"I know exactly what I did," Logan said huskily as he closed the small space between them and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Really? Then do it again," Dana dared with a smirk.

"I will," Logan said as the space between their lips was slowly starting to decrease.

"I'm waiting," Dana breathed trying to get the last word.

Chase had been watching them and it had been calming. They were fighting and that was normal and it almost made him feel better, but then it suddenly turned from fighting to flirting. At first it almost seemed familiar, but with what was happening now he just didn't understand. It was all so confusing. It was Dana and Logan. As he could clearly see that he was going to witness another scene like the one he had just walked in on he stood up and said, "Whoa, stop, stop, stop, for the love of God stop."

They separated both angry and disappointed.

"Well what are you still doing here?" Logan questioned annoyed.

Dana kicked Logan and admonished, "Don't be mean, we need to be sure he doesn't tell anyone else."

"Then I think mean is the way to go," Logan argued.

Turning to Chase, Dana informed, "No, if he doesn't keep his mouth shut we're going to tell Zoey he loves her."

As Logan smirked liking the idea, Chase looked alarmed. He tried to play it off, "What? You can't do that it's not even true."

Dana rolled her eyes as she replied, "Come on Chase, we're not stupid,…well, he is," she said with a gesture to Logan, "but everyone knows you love Zoey, except Zoey. And if you tell anyone about our new little meaningless hobby then she's going to find out."

"No, you wouldn't do that," Chase said shaking his head disbelievingly.

"No you wouldn't and haven't done that, I will," Dana responded, but she really didn't want to. She didn't want Chase to tell anyone, but she also knew that Chase should be the one to tell Zoey so she offered, "You could be the one to tell her though so I'll make you a deal. If you agree to keep our dirty little secret not only will we not tell Zoey, but I'll make sure she goes to the dance with you."

Chase's eyes gave away that he thought the idea was appealing. He sank back down onto the couch in thought, but concluded after a beat of silence, "No, I can't let you do that. If Zoey's going to go to a dance with me I want it to be because she wants to."

Dana took a seat across from Chase on the coffee table and said, "But she's not going to want to as long as you're keeping her in the friend zone. So this time she'll go with you because of my manipulations and then you make sure that the night ends with her wanting to go to every dance with you. Or you don't and you stay her friend and you just get to go to one dance with her. It's up to you; I'm just helping you get a chance."

Dana was making it all sound so okay, but Chase didn't want to be with Zoey because Zoey had been manipulated. He learned that from the first school dance with her where he tried to make his answers to the personality test match hers. But if he was going to be with her he didn't want it to be because he cheated his way into it, he wanted them to be together because they were supposed to be.

In the silence Logan was starting to worry that Dana's plan wasn't working and added, "Plus if you say anything Dana's going to give you a beating."

Dana glared at Logan like he was a moron because that was exactly what she was thinking.

But Chase didn't need the threat of violence to make his decision, he already had. Maybe Dana was right, maybe if he just took advantage of this opportunity with Zoey they could be together if they were supposed to be. He decided, "Okay, I won't say anything. But just because I know doesn't mean I ever want to have to see you two together ever again because this is still completely insane."

"Then get what you came for and get out quick," Logan said impatiently.

Chase stood up and said, "Believe me I'll be getting out of here as fast as I possibly can. Do you guys know where the excess copies of books are down here?"

"Last few rows in the back on the left," Dana answered.

"Thanks and remember, there should be distance, lots of distance between you when I get back," Chase declared as he started heading down the pathway of tall dusty dark shelves.

"Walk loud then," Logan yelled in warning after him.

Dana stood up and walked over to Logan as Chase disappeared from sight.

"Nicely played," Logan complimented.

"That sounds a lot like a compliment and that's against the rules," Dana said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Logan couldn't believe that he broke that rule. When they made it he figured it'd be one he'd have absolutely no problem not breaking. Compliments made things too personal, and he didn't know why he just said that too her. He covered as his arms wrapped around her waist, "Right, well I meant nicely played, but it would have been a whole lot easier to just threaten to beat him up like I originally said. So you wasted a bunch of my precious time with that whole long thing."

Dana let her hands play with the ends of his hair as she replied, "But I had another goal than just getting him to not say anything and now you're the one wasting our time."

And she was right; he was wasting their time with talking, which again was something that he couldn't understand why he was doing it. Well he wasn't going to do it any longer. He kissed her, but she couldn't stop thinking about what rule it was he just broke. It worried her; she never expected that rule to be broken. And in her mind she was definitely worried, but on her face she wore a smile as she let herself sink into doing nothing but kissing him. And he wore a smile too because the instant his lips touched hers he let himself completely forget about the rule he broke and there was just her and he smiled.

Chase thought he had walked back loudly, but when he reached the end of the shelves and saw Dana and Logan clearly not separated at all he figured maybe he should have whistled too. Maybe it was just that the shock had worn off, but as he saw his two friends together this time really looking at them, it didn't seem so confusing or wrong anymore and he left without disturbing them.

* * *

Later that day after classes Nicole was at cheer practice when she received some news that completely put a damper on her Halloween.

It all started when Tiffany called them around and said, "As you may have already heard there's a Halloween dance this Saturday. You may be thinking what does this have to do with cheerleading? But from now on everything will have to do with cheerleading. No one has been cut from the team in a week because as far as cheering is concerned you're all doing the same. So we decided that being able to cheer will no longer be the only requirement for being on the team. We decided that cheerleaders should be an elitist group at this school. Every girl should want to be us and every guy should want to be with us and that's exactly the message you'll be portraying at the dance and if you don't you're off the team. You have to show up to the dance alone and those of you who more guys want to dance with and more girls want to be, you'll get to stay on the team for now. And to put you all on equal ground you'll all have the same costume. Morgan will take your measurements for it now and you'll get them at practice on Thursday."

Elizabeth, a petite blond girl, said worriedly, "But I can't go to the dance alone, I have a boyfriend."

"Who else has a boyfriend?" Tiffany asked and though she expected some of the girls to lie only Meredith, Carlita, and Bria raised their hands and she did know that they were all in relationships. Being the intelligent girl that she was she had actually already thought of a response to the expected question but decided to see how smart the girls were, "And who knows what they have to do?"

Carlita dared to answer and assuming that Tiffany was, well, evil, she guessed, "Tell them not to come to the dance or break up with them?"

"No," Tiffany said shooting Carlita a dumbfounded look. She explained, "Despite the fact that you're there with a boyfriend, you still have to find away to stick to your dance objective. You have to accomplish the same thing as all the girls going alone. All the girls should still want to be you and all the guys should want to be your boyfriend."

* * *

The next day after classes Nicole was with Zoey, Lola and Dana getting a smoothie and she was still complaining about Tiffany the Terrible as she liked to call her, "I don't get to pick a costume, which I look forward to all year long. And I probably won't even get to turn anyone down for a date because I haven't even been asked yet."

Zoey comforted as they exited the smoothie place and started heading back to the girls lounge across campus, "First, news of Tiffany's rules has spread fast so lots of guys know that asking won't get them a date. Secondly, the dance was just announced twenty four hours ago, I doubt hardly anyone already has a date."

"I do," Dana said unemotionally.

"I do too," Lola admitted.

"Who?" Nicole demanded excitedly.

"Hank Miller, he asked me yesterday," Dana answered flatly.

"And I'm going with Michael," Lola announced.

"What?" All three girls said and stopped in their tracks to look at her.

But Lola wasn't paying attention to them, she saw Michael at a table by himself as they were passing through the quad with his homework spread out in front of him and said, "Oh, right, that reminds me…"

She walked over to Michael and said getting right to the point, "Hey Michael, do you have a date for the dance?"

"No," Michael replied simply and not having the slightest idea what she was going to say next.

With confidence Lola asked, "Do you want to go with me?"

"Yeah, sure," Michael replied smiling, quiet pleasantly surprised.

"Good. Well, the girls are waiting so you know where to pick me up and I'll see you later," Lola said with a smile and turned around to join the girls again.

"Yeah," Michael said as she left, his response a little slow because he was kind of shocked, but it was definitely a good shock.

Lola returned to three girls staring at her in disbelief.

Nicole asked just to make sure, "Did you just ask him?"

"Yeah," Lola said like it was nothing as she started walking towards the lounge again.

Nicole prompted as the girls also started walking again, "And he said…."

"Yes," Lola said as if it should have been obvious.

"I can't believe _you_ asked _him_. I could never ask a guy," Nicole admitted.

"Of course you could," Lola assured and continued, "and why shouldn't I ask him? He thinks I'm fun and hot so it's not like he would have said no."

"He told you he thinks you're fun and hot?" Zoey questioned.

"No, but how could he not think that," Lola said confidently.

"Wait, so does this mean you like Michael?" Dana asked as if it was some juicy piece of gossip.

Lola shrugged and said, "I don't know. He's just nice and funny and cute and I thought we'd have a good time together so I asked him."

"But is it as a friend or as a date?" Zoey asked curious as to what the clarification would be.

"I guess we'll see how the night goes," Lola said as if the fact that all of this was with Michael wasn't a big deal at all.

All the girls were eager to ask her more questions, but they were interrupted by Jack Riely approaching. Seeing that he seemed to be heading directly for them purposefully Nicole started muttering, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."

Finally Jack came up to them and greeted, "Hi ladies."

"Hi," they all replied except Nicole who couldn't seem to form words.

None of them really knew Jack and they didn't think he knew them so they weren't sure why he was suddenly talking to them, but he cleared that up, "You're all friends with Quinn Pensky right?"

"Yeah," Zoey answered for all of them.

Looking a little nervous Jack asked, "Well I've been reading her blogs for a while and she used to mention a guy named Mark, but she hasn't been lately so I was wondering if you know if she has a date for the dance?"

"No, I don't think so," Zoey answered for them once again as Lola and Dana shook their heads in agreement. Nicole still didn't seem to be functioning normally.

Jack broke out in a very wide smile as he said, "Great, that's great. Thank you all and have a good day." Jack walked away leaving the girls totally surprised.

"We have to tell Quinn," Lola said excitedly.

Zoey nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we should definitely warn her because this is…"

"Unreal," Dana offered.

Zoey didn't really want to say that, but it was true. The Jack Riely asking Quinn to the dance was unreal, not because it was Quinn, but because it was Jack Riely, him asking any of them would have been completely unbelievable. Zoey nodded in agreement with Dana and glanced to Nicole who still seemed weird. Zoey figured out the problem and said, "Breath Nicole."

Nicole didn't respond so Dana not so gently patted her back to get her attention.

Nicole immediately seemed to come back to life and began squealing, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Jack, Jack Riely is going to ask Quinn, our Quinn to the dance."

"Yep, so when are we going to tell her? She's at her science club meeting right now and when she gets out we both have a student council meeting," Zoey said trying to form a plan.

"And I have drama in a little while," Lola informed.

"And I have cheer," Nicole said a little glumly.

Dana didn't say anything so they all assumed she was available and Zoey concluded, "So we'll meet up at five thirty and head to her room and tell her?"

"Yeah," they all agreed.

They once again started heading for the lounge when something occurred to Zoey and she said, "Wait, so out of all of us now I'm the only one without a date? I mean, Nicole you can't have one and you all do so, yeah, I am the only one and the dance was just announced."

"Well yeah, but it's also just three days away. There wasn't a lot of notice for this dance so everyone is acting fast and you should too," Nicole advised.

The girls continued walking in silence, Zoey in thought until she said, "Maybe I should just ask Chase." Unnoticed to Zoey the three pairs of eyes walking with her all got very wide, but then she continued and they didn't say that way, "You know as a friend because with getting all this work done for the dance I really don't have time to worry about finding a date. Do you think Chase would be willing to go with me?"

The girls discretely exchanged disbelieving looks and Dana responded, "Yeah, he'd definitely go with you, you should just ask him, soon."

Zoey didn't say anything else about Chase or the dance the entire time they spent together before they all had to go their separate ways.

* * *

When the girls were discussing their plans there was a reason Dana didn't say what she was doing and let them believe she wasn't doing anything because she couldn't let them know what she was doing. While they were all off with their extra curricular activities Dana was with one of hers, she was with Logan. Or more specifically she was in his lap and he was in the overstuffed chair in the library's basement. They had been their quite a while and she could feel that her lips were now swollen. She was also aware of the fact that Logan had been trying to slyly take advantage of the fact that she was in a skirt and he had access to her legs. His hand had ever so slowly and discreetly (he thought) been making its way further and further up her leg. She had yet to stop him, but she was planning on stopping him.

Suddenly something occurred to Dana and she pulled away and asked, "What time is it?"

Logan glanced at his Rolex and replied, "Five twenty five."

"I've got to go," Dana said as she stood up.

"You can't go now," Logan said grumpily.

"I have to," Dana said as she put the sandals she had taken off back on, "besides you were seconds away from being stopped with your little traveling hand their."

"You weren't going to stop me. You like my traveling hand," Logan claimed with a smirk.

"Whatever, I'm still leaving," Dana said, not denying what Logan said because part of her wasn't sure she would have stopped him, and she turned to leave.

But Dana didn't get a step towards the stairs before Logan grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his lap. He didn't give her the chance to yell or complain he just kissed her.

"I'm going to be late," she murmured against his lips.

"So," was his only retort. He knew he didn't need to argue, he could feel it in her, she didn't want to leave just like he didn't want her to.

* * *

At five forty five Zoey, Nicole, and Lola were outside their rooms waiting in the hallway for Dana when she finally arrived looking flushed and happy.

"Sorry, I lost track of time doing that paper for history in the library," Dana apologized as she approached.

"It's alright, lets just go now," Zoey said acceptingly.

Zoey and Nicole turned around and headed down the hall to Quinn's room, but Lola stayed back and caught Dana. She whispered to her, "Maybe they didn't catch on to it, but you were not doing a history paper in the library because your lips are so obviously swollen and you used to be wearing lip gloss. You are so going to give me details later."

"I can't," Dana said seriously.

Lola was confused. Why couldn't Dana talk about it? Why did she look so worried? She asked, "Why not? It was just Hank right?" Dana didn't respond immediately and suddenly it all made sense to Lola. Dana couldn't say anything because it was someone other than Hank her date for the dance and the only guy who seemed to hang around her occasionally. And the expression on Dana's face let her know that she shouldn't ask any more question. But the expression wasn't one of Dana's angry glares; it was more pleading and scared.

When they caught up with the girls in Quinn's room they acted like nothing happened.

After the girls knocked and received a "come in" from Quinn, they entered expecting to see her mid-experiment, but she was just exiting something on her computer and closing her red notebook she had out beside her.

The girls filed in and all took a seat on her bed across from her. They were quiet, which was weird, especially for Nicole, so Quinn greeted and asked, "Hi guys. Is something up?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Zoey began slowly.

Nicole was unable to contain her excitement any longer and blurted out practically jumping out of her seat, "Jack Riely is going to ask you to the dance!"

"What?" Quinn asked thinking she must not have heard the fast talking high pitched Nicole correctly.

"It's true," Zoey confirmed, "Jack Riely asked us today if you had a date for the dance and when we told he we didn't think so he was really happy. So it looks like he's going to ask you."

"Wait, this is that football captain guy Jack Riely?" Quinn asked not really knowing the right words.

"Yep," Lola confirmed.

"And why is he asking me?" Quinn questioned because the very little she knew about him made her think there was no way she was his type.

"I don't know," Zoey said honestly. She brought up the same thing Quinn was wondering, "Well last year he was going out with Clair Masterson and she was a year ahead of him and the most popular girl in the senior class and now she's trying to become a model, from what I've heard. Maybe he wants to go with you because he's looking for someone different from Clair."

"Or theirs always the possibility that it was a bet or dare. In which case I'll kick his ass for you," Dana offered.

"Thank you," Quinn said gratefully, but assured, "but if this turns out to be some kind of prank or untrue in any way I definitely have devices for dealing with him."

"You won't have to," Nicole began, capturing everyone's attention. She explained, "Jack Riely definitely wants to go with you because he likes you. It makes perfect sense. Jack, though he is captain of the varsity football team, the most popular guy in school, definitely one of the hottest guys ever, and can have any girl he wants, once he said that he had been reading your blog it totally made sense that he would ask you. Jack also happens to be the top of his class and is applying to MIT to become an engineer, though he's undecided about where exactly he wants to go because he's also applying to Notre Dame to maybe play football for a career, and he's considering Harvard, because it's Harvard and he could definitely get into all of them so trying to choose has really been stressing him out. And-"

"How do you know all this?" Dana questioned interrupting Nicole's off track rant.

"He's a cute guy, this is my subject," Nicole assured.

"I don't get it, why is he supposedly interested in me?" Quinn questioned skeptically.

Getting back on track Nicole explained, "Jack is really into science and math. He got a perfect score the math portion of his SAT's, near perfect on the English. And he's president of the AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Physics clubs. Clair appealed to one part of Jack's interests, she fit the popular guy's typical girlfriend model, but you appeal to some of his other interests. He's been reading your blog so he obviously finds you interesting and he wants to see if you guys would make a good couple."

Quinn thought about it a second and eventually asked, "So when he asks me do you guys think I should accept?"

"Yeah, go for it," Dana encouraged.

"Yeah, I never knew all that about him, but it sounds like you guys would have a good time together," Zoey agreed.

"What else do you know about him?" Lola asked Nicole curiously.

Nicole began to list as if it was all filed away in her memory, "His middle name is Henry. He has two sisters, one older who's twenty and one younger who's ten. He's from some small town in Northern California. Both of his parents work full time and he's here on scholarship like you Quinn. He's Mormon and is very involved in his church. He's a gentleman and always holds doors open and pulls out chairs. He has a band where he plays the bass, but despite the fact that he has a good voice he doesn't do any of the singing. He plays football, basketball, baseball, and he surfs. He also likes to go rock climbing and paintballing. And the song he has on his myspace profile right now is Weird Al Yankovic's 'White and Nerdy.'"

"Whoa, that's a lot of information," Lola said slightly overwhelmed.

"I told you cute guys are my subject," Nicole repeated.

"So are you going to say yes when he asks you?" Zoey asked Quinn curiously.

Quinn shrugged and said as she started to blush just a little, "I guess so, he does sound pretty great."

The girls continued to talk all the way until dinner where the topic even with the guys there was still Quinn's potential upcoming date with the Jack Riely.

* * *

The next day Jack didn't waste any time in finding Quinn in the hallway of the media building just before classes began.

He approached nervously and began by introducing himself, "Hi Quinn, right?" Quinn nodded in confirmation and Jack continued, "I'm Jack Riely. I know you don't know me, except for you may have heard stuff about me because it seems like everyone does, but I've been reading your blogs and I think you're really interesting and pretty and I was hoping that you might want to go to the Halloween dance with me?"

The more Quinn had been thinking about it, the more she had been doubting it. She asked, "Are you sure? Because I have absolutely nothing in common with Clair Masterson."

Jack smiled and replied, "Yeah, it turned out I didn't really have much in common with her either. I know we don't really know each other, but I really want to change that. I'd really like to go to the dance with you."

"Okay, sure," Quinn said giving in.

"Really? Great, so where should I pick you up?" Jack questioned excitedly.

"You can pick me up at my room, 301 of Butler Hall," Quinn responded starting to get nervous under the stare of the piercing blue eyes of the tall built brunette in front of her.

_And she's so pretty cause she will never be...  
She's so pretty to me, to me, to me.  
I try to tell her but she just won't believe._

"Awesome. Well I don't want either one of us to be late to class so we should both get going and I'll see you then," Jack said and Quinn wasn't sure if that was his way of saying goodbye so she just slowly turned to leave. But Jack stopped by adding, "Oh, and Quinn, thank you for saying yes."

_She's so pretty to me.  
She's so, so pretty.  
She's so..._

Quinn froze in response, but luckily he didn't notice because he raced off to class. Quinn also departed and headed to homeroom to give the girls all the details.

* * *

Later that day after school Zoey was sitting with Chase in the gym going through the small amount of decorations they were able to buy with the money they were given, but she wasn't really paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing because Nicole's and Dana's words from the previous day kept running through her mind. Nicole was right, the dance was only just over forty eight hours away now and there was barely any time to get a costume. And Dana was probably right; Chase would probably go with her.

Zoey decided to take a chance and asked, "Hey Chase, were you planning on asking anyone special to the dance?"

Chase wanted to say that he was planning on asking her, but he really hadn't. He knew Dana said she'd get Zoey to go with him, but he still didn't feel right about asking her, he still didn't feel like risking it. He decided to say, "Not really. This whole thing is coming up kind of fast I haven't even had time to really think about it."

"Yeah I know. We just have so much to do. All the decorations we could get was some crate paper and balloons and we still have to try and make this place look good. And we have to get costumes," Zoey said listing all the things that she thought was to blame for the reason she was asking Chase. And she was asking Chase, nervously she said, "So with all that going on I was thinking maybe we could just go together. You know we'll definitely have a good time, we always have a good time together."

"Sure," Chase replied immediately. He knew she was just asking as a friend, but he could never turn her down. She seemed a little weird though, but Chase figured it must have just been his imagination. He tried to act like he wasn't completely thrilled and semi-changed the topic, "Well, we may not have a good time this time though because everyone might be really mad at the sophomore class for decorating with crate paper and balloons."

Zoey groaned in frustration and buried her face in her hands briefly before saying, "I know, but what are we supposed to do?"

"I have an idea," Chase said as he took out his cell phone.

Five minutes later Logan came storming through the gym doors and yelled, "Okay what do you want?"

Zoey began, "Well-"

"Zoey do you mind if I speak to Logan in private for a second first?" Chase said cutting her off.

"Okay," Zoey agreed and Chase started heading for the door and grabbed Logan and dragged him out with him.

"Watch the shirt it was more expensive than all your clothes combined," Logan warned.

Chase released Logan and tried to appear in control as he said, "I know I said I'd keep your secret on the previous conditions, but not anymore. We need money for decorations and if you don't want me to say anything about you and Dana then you're going to give it to us."

Logan smirked as he said, "Normally I'd say hell no because you're so obviously bluffing, but Dana actually gave me a message to give to you. She said to tell you that she never talked Zoey into anything. Zoey brought up the dance before she did and said she was going to ask you. When Zoey asked if you would go with her all Dana did was say yes, that was the total extent of her involvement. She claims we still owe you for your silence so fine, I will pay. But I'm not paying a lot. Whatever you need to make this dance decent is enough, nothing all extravagant. I'll bring my checkbook with me to dinner, but right now I have plans in the library." Logan ended with a wink and rushed off before Chase could argue.

Chase paused for a second before heading back into the gym to tell Zoey the good news. He was suddenly very confused about what was going on. He figured Dana was the reason Zoey decided she didn't have time to get a real date and should just go with him, but it seemed she decided to go with him all on her own. Chase let himself be optimistic for only a brief second before deciding that it still probably didn't mean anything.

* * *

After Logan had been in the library for five minutes Dana got frustrated and pulled away from kissing him and his arms all together. She huffed agitatedly and said, "Oh I can't take it any longer. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked only semi-confused.

"You, you're acting all weird. You seem totally distracted so there's obviously something wrong with you and like a total girl you're letting it get in the way of enjoying right now. Gosh, learn to deal with your problems on your own time they shouldn't be interfering in my life," Dana complained.

"I don't have any problems, I'm fine. I don't know what you're talking about," Logan denied.

"Yes you do and you're letting it effect how you kiss me. And-" Dana stopped mid sentence as she realized something and though the thought seemed completely ludicrous she had to ask, "Wait a minute, is whatever it is affecting how you kiss me because it has to do with me? Your problem is with me?"

Logan didn't respond because they weren't supposed to have problems with each other, it meant too much and he didn't want it to be taken that way.

Dana took his silence as a yes and started guessing since he wasn't offering anything, "What kind of problem do you have with me? We don't even…there's not enough between us for you to develop some kind of problem. What, are you getting frustrated with the hand rules? Do you want to meet more? Do you want to meet less? Do you want to stop?" Logan wasn't responding and suddenly Dana was guessing something significant before she could stop herself, "Do you not like that I'm going to the dance with Hank? Do you-"

"What?" the Hank thing finally elicited a response out of Logan. Now him having a problem with that, that would be insane and he let her know that, "Of course I don't have a problem with you going to the dance with Hank, why would I? It's not like I want to torture myself and have to spend an evening with you."

Dana was relieved to hear it because she agreed, "And I would definitely never want to go with you. So what busty blond bimbo are you going with anyway?"

"Wendy McCoy," Logan said with a smirk.

"Ah, the dumbest of them all," Dana joked.

"If I'm lucky," Logan replied typically.

"So you've got yourself a hot dumb date for the dance what the hell is your problem?" Dana demanded still annoyed.

Logan conceded saying through gritted teeth, "I had to pay. Chase had me pay for the decorations in order for him to keep quiet. Now I'm paying for this. You're here too so you should have to pay too."

Dana was once again relieved to hear it wasn't anything serious. But there was no way she was paying, "No, I'm not going to pay. You're rich, you pay, get over it. Now what time is it?"

Logan groaned, but didn't bother arguing with her, she was right; he was the one that could easily afford to pay. He checked his watch and his annoyance returned, "Crap, it's almost time for us to meet everyone for dinner. You wasted all our time. You talk too much."

"I talk too much?" Dana repeated questioning his words.

"Yeah, way too much," Logan reiterated.

She would have argued, but Dana had a better idea and said with a smirk, "Then you should know how to fix it: shut me up."

Logan didn't need to be told twice as he immediately captured her lips possessively. Their friends and dinner would have to wait.

* * *

Meanwhile Nicole was relieved that cheer practice was finally coming to an end. While she wasn't happy with the fact that she didn't get to pick out her costume and that it was going to be the same as the other fourteen cheerleaders, she was excited to finally find out what they were.

But when she received her costume she defnately wasn't happy. "Fanta, we have to be Fanta girls?" Nicole complained to her fellow teammate Erika, a tall pretty African American girl Nicole had found a friend in quickly at the usually torturous practices.

"And Tiffany seemed to pick the worst color for every girl," Erika added.

"I hate yellow; I look horrible in yellow," Nicole whined.

"Yeah, and orange is such a horrible color on me. It would look good on you though," Erika complimented.

"And you'd look great in yellow," Nicole said returning the compliment.

Erika sighed in resignation and said, "It's too bad they had them fitted to us or we could trade and both get what we want." Before Nicole could say anything Erica had a helpful idea, "Maybe we still can trade outfits with someone who's near our sizes. You should see what Kath and Lara have because they're about your size and I'll go check with Elizabeth and Bette Lilith."

Unfortunately for all the cheerleaders Tiffany had them fit exactly and no one was able to trade so they were all stuck with Fanta girl outfits in their most unflattering color for each girl. To top it all off Tiffany and her crew of Morgan and Jenna weren't going as Fanta girls. Their positions on the team weren't at risk so they didn't have to. The three girls were going as witches, or judging by the lack of material of their costumes, slutty witches.

Nicole had been re-telling the tale of receiving the Fanta girl costume and the horribleness of it for ten minutes at dinner before it was interrupted by Dana arriving.

"You've been late a lot lately," Zoey commented as Dana sat down with her tray.

"Yeah, I keep loosing track of time. I should probably start setting the alarm on my phone to remind me of stuff," Dana said avoiding Lola's eyes that she could feel on her, but she glanced up to them anyway and Lola looked concerned. Dana turned her attention to her food and hoped she wouldn't feel eyes on her anymore. What she didn't notice was that Lola wasn't the only one who had been watching her with interest, but then Quinn did look away quicker than Lola so she could write something in her notebook.

Nicole picked her story right up as if Dana's arrival hadn't interrupted it at all, "This is so horrible though. I hate not being able to pick out a costume. And how am I supposed to be all desirable in a horrible yellow pleather outfit? I don't even get to go Halloween costume shopping this year and I look forward to it all year because it combines two of my favorite things, costumes and shopping."

"Well I have no idea what I'm going to be. Do you want to come and help me pick something out?" Quinn asked needing the assistance because she was going with Jack Riely and she knew had to have something better than she usually did, she just didn't know what that was. She also wanted to help Nicole feel better because being stuck in pleather for a night did sound really horrible.

"Yea! I'd love to help!" Nicole replied excitedly and hugging Quinn who sat beside her.

"Oh, and I forgot about getting a costume and I don't have time to shop now. Why you guys are shopping can you pick me up something?" Dana asked not caring what her costume was but also wanting to make Nicole feel better.

"Absolutely, I'll find you something fabulous," Nicole said practically giddy.

"If it's not something I would actually pick out for myself you know you're dead, right?" Dana asked in warning.

"I know, I know. No princesses or bunnies for you," Nicole accepted.

Quinn was thinking that those things weren't for her either, but she decided not to tell Nicole now and spoil all her excitement, it could wait.

Logan arrived, but his tardiness wasn't questioned for as he sat down Nicole was already in the middle of asking, "So Zoey what are you going to be?"

"I don't know yet," Zoey replied, "but I might need you to pick whatever I decide up for me because I don't think I'm going to have time to."

"No problem, just tell me what you want by tomorrow afternoon because that when I think we should go. You're free then, right Quinn?" Nicole asked in planning and Quinn nodded as she couldn't speak for she had a full mouth. With a stroke of genious Nicole asked, "Wait, Zoey you and Chase are going to the dance together, right?" Both Zoey and Chase nodded, but Zoey wondered how she knew since she never said for sure that she was asking Chase and even if she was what if she hadn't yet? But Zoey didn't say anything because Nicole continued quickly, "Well Chase if you don't have a costume yet then you guys should do a pair costume that'd be so cute."

Zoey looked to Chase who she found already looking to her. Chase shrugged, not really caring so Zoey responded, "Yeah, I guess we could do that. Any suggestions?"

"Bride and groom," Nicole answered immediately and with an excessive hint.

Zoey wasn't thrilled about the idea and she could tell Chase wasn't either. But she also didn't totally dislike it, but she hoped they could find something better so she said, "Maybe."

"Well you guys should think about it and just let me know by tomorrow," Nicole said putting an end to the subject because neither Chase nor Zoey seemed too thrilled to talk about it at the moment. It was somewhat discouraging, but she hoped that it was just because everyone was there and listening and just paying attention to them and it was a little weird.

* * *

Nicole's theory seemed to be confirmed because the next day Zoey decided her and Chase had to decide on costumes so they we're eating lunch in their spot by the lake alone.

"Batman and Batgirl," Chase suggested.

Zoey was smiling at the reference to what was a good afternoon all those weeks ago despite the fact that she didn't like the idea. She responded, "No, I don't want to be anything where I have to where spandex."

"Ketchup and mustard," Chase offered.

"Can't move in that and I want to be something pretty. I know that that may sound stupid, but we get to dress up and I want to be something pretty," Zoey admitted.

"You'd be pretty in anything Zo," Chase said before he could stop himself.

But luckily or unluckily Zoey took it as at least to be partially a tactic and responded, "Thank you, but I'm still not going to be Batgirl."

"Had to try," Chase replied both relieved and disappointed.

To get rid of the silence that was quickly settling over them Chase suggested jokingly, "Maybe I could just wear that red and black plaid flannel shirt I got with you and go as the Brawny paper towel man and then you-"

"Could get a plaid flannel dress to match and go as…Mrs. Brawny?" Zoey completed as a smile slowly spread across her face.

"You love the idea, don't you?" Chase asked knowingly.

"Yes! Can we do it please?" Zoey pleaded trying to give her best sad puppy dog face.

"Yeah, okay," Chase agreed, but had to ask, "but how are you going to get a dress to match? Do they actually make plaid flannel dresses because I don't think I've seen one."

Zoey's face fell slightly as she said, "Oh, right, that could take a lot of searching." But her smile returned as she figured out, "But I could just have Nicole go to the place we got your shirt and get me one and I know how to hem stuff so I could make some alterations and try and turn it into a dress."

"Are you going to have time to do that?" Chase asked concerned.

Zoey couldn't really think of a time when she would be able to do it unless, "Well, I could if I skip seeing Nicole cheer and Michael play tonight." But she didn't want to miss Friday night, Friday nights were her favorite nights and it wouldn't be if she was in her room alone sewing.

Chase didn't want her to not come because Friday night was his favorite night because it was with her. So Chase suggested hoping that he could pull it off, "Or maybe everyone would be willing to help us set up tomorrow and that will take a quarter of the time it would have without them and you could have plenty of time to sew tomorrow."

"Let's ask them," Zoey said hoping that they'd agree and she wouldn't have to miss her Friday night.

The gang all agreed without hesitation except Logan who needed a kick from Dana to agree and Zoey and Chase got to keep looking forward to their Friday night.

* * *

As they continued through the mall, Nicole listed, "Okay, we've picked up Zoey's shirt, the costume Michael wanted, and I found something for Dana-"

"She's going to hurt you for that one," Quinn commented interrupting.

"It's got some of her personality in it, it's just nicer," Nicole hoped that at least. But getting back on track Nicole continued, "But we still need a costume for you."

"I don't know what to get," Quinn said shaking her head, "I mean, what do you get when you're going with Jack Riely?"

"Well since he's going with you because he likes you, then the costume should be you, it should fit your personality. But he's also a romantic interest so it should also be something that emphasizes your cuteness," Nicole explained.

They entered another costume store and Nicole immediately started grabbing. Holding up a large dress Nicole said, "How about this. It's a pretty dress and it looks like someone smart like you would wear." Nicole read the label and asked, "Who was Queen Isabel of Castile anyway?"

"She was a Queen in what is now part of Spain in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century," Quinn answered without hesitation.

"See it's a smart person costume and it's pretty. What do you think?" Nicole asked hoping that she had really sold the outfit because they didn't have that much time left before she had to get to the game to cheer.

"I'm not going to be Isabel. Though she did hold more power than most women of her time, she also started the Spanish Inquistion, I don't really want to dress up as someone like that. Plus she actually didn't usually wear extravagant clothing like this is supposed to be so it's also historically inaccurate," Quinn said making a firm case for dismissing the outfit.

"What was the Spanish Inquisition again?" Nicole asked in hopes that she could find some way to make whatever it was not seem bad and talk Quinn into it.

"I'll explain it on the bus ride back," Quinn said not wanting to waste any more time on the topic.

Pulling out another costume Nicole said, "How about this. Belle was the smartest of the Disney princesses, she read."

"Do you really think yellow's my best color?" Quinn asked eyeing the dress with apprehension.

"Maybe not," Nicole conceded putting it back. Nicole took out another one and asked, "How about a Geisha?"

"I don't like its messages about gender roles," Quinn said shaking her head.

Nicole didn't bother to argue she simply put the costume back and picked up another, "Greek goddess?"

"Well, no, but it does resemble traditional ancient Greek clothing and I could wear it and go as Theano, she was a famous Grecian mathematician," Quinn said as she took the costume from Nicole to examine it more closely.

"That sounds perfect. It's so you and you could wear your hair a little wavy and down and you'd look so cute. And this isn't that revealing so you don't have to worry about him getting the wrong message," Nicole thought honestly.

"It is my size," Quinn said adding to the reasons she should get it even though it wasn't totally like her.

"Get it," Nicole encouraged excitedly.

Quinn was silent for a second but in her head the reasons to get it far out weighed the ones not to which weren't really coming to mind. She decided, "Okay, I'll get it."

* * *

That night was what had become a typical Friday night for the gang. They all watched as Michael played in the football game and Nicole cheered. Lola always watched from the center of the front row of the bleachers and was usually joined by Quinn who stayed for at least part of the game. Chase and Zoey always stayed huddled in their blanket in the top corner of the bleachers. And Dana and Logan sat on opposite ends of the bleachers for most of the game, but met periodically under the bleachers for stretches of time that always got away from them.

The next day the entire gang pitched in helping Zoey and Chase decorate with the decorations they were able to buy the previous day thanks to the check Logan gave them two days prior. They had all of the balloon archways, orange twinkle lights, fake cobwebs, and tables decorated with all kinds of creepy crawly items up in no time.

Everyone spent the afternoon finishing getting ready, except for Logan and Dana who had met and time got away from them again. The fairly large amount of lost time didn't affect Dana at all for she never required a lot of time to get ready. Logan was a different story, he required lots of time and his date was most likely going to end up waiting for him.

At seven thirty, a half hour before the dance began, Zoey met Chase in the gym to make sure one more time that everything was set up just right. Zoey had managed to turn the red, green, and black flannel shirt into a pretty decent dress. She cut off the sleeves and altered the top of the dress using the collar to help her turn it into a halter. It was rounded in the front and back and was rather long on her so she hemmed it up so that it was just above her knees. Then she used some material from a plain old black t-shirt to make a cloth tie to attach around the waist so that it was fitted at the waist and got rid of some small bit of the excess fabric. She hemmed up all the cut edges of her creation and sewed up the gaps in between the button and since setting up for the dance went so quick with everyone's help she even had time to cover one of her head bands with the material from the sleeves so it matched.

Zoey walked into the dance in her creation and found Chase waiting in his red, green, and black plaid flannel shirt tucked into blue jeans just like the Brawny man, he even had his shirt sleeves rolled up like the man in the picture.

Chase saw Zoey approaching and lost track of what he had been thinking about, though that was pretty common for him where Zoey was concerned. He couldn't resist saying, "You look great."

"Thanks, so do you," Zoey said blushing lightly. To avoid things getting awkward she got right to their purpose there, "So it looks like everything is still working. Balloon archways are still up and lights are all working."

"Yeah, it looks great," Chase assured.

"How did you get Logan to pay for this stuff anyway?" Zoey asked curiously.

Chase shrugged and said not giving up the secret, "You live with someone long enough you learn things about them that they don't want everyone to know and he was willing to pay to keep quiet."

"So you were blackmailing him? About what?" Zoey continued to question.

"Though I've been thinking it will probably come out, I can't actually tell you," Chase said keeping his promise. But there was something he needed Zoey to know, "If I could tell anyone though you'd be the first person I'd want to tell."

"And you're sure you can't tell me?" Zoey asked pleadingly.

"No, not now. But who knows, maybe someone will spike the punch and I'll spill all my secrets," Chase joked.

But Zoey didn't see it as just a joke and asked concerned, "Do you have a lot of secrets?"

"Not from you," Chase lied, but it wasn't totally a lie. Besides the Logan and Dana thing there was really only the one secret he was hiding from her, but it was a big one and there were a lot more that seemed to go along with it.

Since everything seemed to be perfectly fine, decoration wise and between them, Chase and Zoey decided to get a smoothie before the dance started and they left the gym and returned after eight to find it no longer empty.

* * *

At eight o'clock sharp Michael knocked on Lola's door to find it answered by her as Dana had already left to meet Hank at the dance. Lola opened her door to find Michael in a plush purple suit and wearing excessive large jewelry, he was clearly a pimp.

Michael was absolutely stunned by the sight of Lola in a very elegant strapless gold dress with her hair down in very sexy curls. He instantly complimented, "You look amazing."

"Thank you. And you look great as a pimp," Lola said sincerely.

"And being a pimp feels good too. I think this suit is made out of velvet," Michael said rubbing at the fabric for about the hundredth time since Nicole picked it up for him. Lola didn't hesitate to reach forward and also feel the fabric. Michael didn't think anything of it and questioned, "And you really do look great, but what are you supposed to be?"

"I'm an actress," Lola replied.

"You're always an actress," Michael said because since he met her she was always saying she was an actress.

"Ah, yes, but," Lola said as she turned around and reached into her open room and grabbed a gold statue that looked like an Oscar, "tonight I'm an Academy Award winning actress."

"You're going to carry that around all night?" Michael questioned.

"Yeah, but it's actually a clutch purse," Lola said as she revealed a small band that wrapped around her wrist.

"Where did you find that?" Michael asked curiosly.

"E-bay, it has everything," Lola answered as she shut and locked her door.

"Cool," Michael responded and offered his arm and asked, "Shall we?"

Lola took his arm and said, "Yep, let's go."

* * *

Just down the hall Jack had arrive a minute late as he wasn't very familiar with this particular dorm building. Though according to everyone Jack could get any girl he wanted, he wasn't actually one of the people that believed that; he didn't have an enormous ego like Logan. He knocked on Quinn's door and nervously adjusted his costume.

Quinn had taken Nicole's advice and wore her hair down and wavy. She let the girls put just a little mascara and demure pink lip gloss on her. When Quinn opened her door Jack became more nervous at the sight of her. The traditional ancient Grecian wear was very lovely on her.

"Hi, you make a stunning Theano, right?" Jack asked guessing her costume and making Quinn smile.

Quinn thought she was going to have to explain her costume all night; after all she was an ancient Greek mathematician. She hoped that he got her costume and with what his was it was going to be a really good night. She answered, "Yeah, and you make a very dashing Thomas Edison?"

Jack looked relieved and explained, "Yep, but so far everyone's just been guessing colonial American, as if I would just dress up from a time period. I was starting to consider putting on a name tag that says, "Hello, I'm Thomas Edison."

Still smiling Quinn said as she started digging through her very large matching white bag, "Hold on a second."

"Wow, that looks like quite a heavy bag you've got there," Jack commented.

"And it has name tags in it," Quinn said finally pulling them out. She explained, "I thought my costume would need one too."

As Quinn gave Jack a name tag and a pen and filled one out herself, Jack asked, "So what other tricks do you have in that bag?"

"Well I have a notebook for research, which I'm still going to have to do tonight," Quinn said referring to her red notebook in her bag.

"Cool. Is it something that's not in your blog?" Jack asked interested.

"Yeah, I can't actually let anyone know about this one," Quinn said with a mischievous smile.

"Dangerous? Illegal?" Jack continued to question.

Not giving anything away Quinn changed the subject reaching into her bag, "Not as dangerous as this." Quinn had pulled out a little black gadget looking thing that fit in the palm of her hand and explained, "It's a miniature stun gun. A girl can never be too careful." Quinn then realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea to let him know she thought she needed a stun gun on their date and he wasn't talking so she asked, "Scared?"

Jack had seemed entranced by the object in her hand and replied, "Scared? No, more like amazed. How did you get it that small? Is the stun still as strong as a normal sized stun gun?"

"I don't know, but we could test it," Quinn said getting excited.

Jack picked up the device from Quinn's hand, his finger tips brushing the palm of her hand ever so slightly, and he marveled at it, "This is so awesome. Do you think we could show the guys from AP physics, they would love this."

"Sure, let's go," Quinn said locking her door.

The stun gun and science continued to dominate their conversation all the way to the dance.

* * *

_I was working in the lab late one night  
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight  
For my monster from his slab began to rise  
And suddenly to my surprise_

By eight thirty the entire gang was at the dance. Logan was the last to arrive as fixing his hair made him late picking up his date who came in short shorts and a bikini top while Logan wore nice black slacks and a black button up shirt (that wasn't all the way buttoned of course) and a red cape, red horns, and red pitchfork; he was the devil.

_He did the mash  
He did the monster mash  
The monster mash  
It was a graveyard smash  
He did the mash  
It caught on in a flash  
He did the mash  
He did the monster mash_

Dana, however, wore an alluring white dress that was both innocent because of its color, and sexy because of it's flattering spaghetti strap fitted top cut. She also wore delicate white wings that were just the right size so they didn't get in her way at all and a halo, for she was an angel. She really didn't care about her costume much and she did think she looked hot once she added a little make up to give herself smoky eyes and some clear lip gloss, so she wasn't really mad at Nicole for making her an angel. What she was slightly agitated about was that she was supposed to meet Hank at eight and he was ten minutes late and when he showed up he was in jeans and his football jersey. The night was not off to a good start.

_From my laboratory in the castle east  
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast  
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes  
To get a jolt from my electrodes_

Chase and Zoey had met up with Lola and Michael when they arrived and they had been spending most of their time on the dance floor of the dark gym. They saw Nicole every once in a while as she tried to keep moving around the gym hoping that any guy would ask her to dance and hoping to stay out of Tiffany's sight.

_They did the mash  
They did the monster mash  
The monster mash  
It was a graveyard smash  
They did the mash  
It caught on in a flash  
They did the mash  
They did the monster mash_

As Jack was showing Quinn and her amazing miniature stun gun off to some of his friends, Quinn caught sight of a very worried looking Nicole and thought of something to help her out. She asked Jack to dance so they could talk in private.

Jack, being a very nice guy, agreed to help before the song was finished and the plan was officially arranged by the time the song ended.

As the next song, "Golden Years", began playing Quinn and Jack sought out Nicole and put the plan in motion.

_Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop  
Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop  
Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop_

"Nicole," Quinn called out causing Nicole to stop and turn around.

"Oh my gosh, you look so cute," Nicole immediately complimented excitedly as it was the first time she saw Quinn in the costume they picked out.

_Don't let me hear you say life's  
taking you nowhere,  
angel_

"And it's mostly thanks to you so I wanted to return the favor. Nicole, meet Jack, he's going to dance with you and explain our plan so you get to stay on the cheer team," Quinn said ushering Jack forward. She warned Jack, "If she's not talking then you need to remind her to breath."

Jack nodded in understanding and offered his hand to Nicole saying, "Shall we?"

_Come get up my baby  
Look at that sky, life's begun  
Nights are warm and the days are young  
Come get up my baby_

Quinn watched as Nicole, who seemed to be in a trance, was led off by her kind date to the dance floor.

Jack smiled warmly at Nicole who seemed too nervous to move and said, "Are you all right? Quinn said to breath, so please breath and we should probably start dancing other wise we're just two oddly dressed people standing on a dance floor."

_There's my baby lost that's all  
Once I'm begging  
you save her little soul  
Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop  
Come get up my baby_

Jack started moving to the music and Nicole followed his lead. She got her senses back about her and questioned, "Quinn said something about a plan?"

"Yeah, she wanted to help you out. She told me about Tiffany and what she's having all you JV cheerleaders do here and I'm glad I don't know Tiffany. But Quinn thought of a plan and I helped her out working it out," Jack answered.

_Last night they loved you,  
opening doors  
and pulling some strings, angel  
Come get up my baby  
In walked luck and you looked in time_  
_Never look back, walk tall,  
act fine  
Come get up my baby_

"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so desperate. It doesn't seem like anyone came here without a date and no one's ditching their dates yet so no one's asked me to dance and I keep seeing Tiffany look at me all disapproving," Nicole rambled on.

"Well from now on you're going to have plenty of dances," Jack began explaining, "I don't know that many guys that came without dates, but all of them I do know are going to be asking you to dance. With each new song they'll be going in order of their football jersey numbers. Then there are a couple guys from the science clubs who have numbered off and a couple guys with dates who won't mind them dancing with you once so we've got you covered for dances for about the next eighteen songs."

_I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years  
Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years, gold  
Golden years, gold whop whop whop  
Come get up my baby_

"Thank you so much," Nicole said excitedly and gratefully throwing herself at Jack and hugging him.

"It's no problem, I'm glad to help," Jack replied sincerely.

_I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years  
Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years, gold  
Golden years, gold whop whop whop_

As the song finally came to and end Jack left Nicole and thanked her for the dance but said he was going to return to Quinn since Nicole's next dance was approaching.

Nicole didn't see anyone approaching, but as "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" started playing someone tapped her on her shoulder and she turned around.

_Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel  
My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel_

"Hi. You must be Niocle, I'm John Ely. Do you wanna dance?" John asked in his pirate costume as he extending his hand.

Nicole could only nod and take his hand. John Ely was definitely they hottest junior guy. He had been playing on the varsity football team since his freshman year and the evidence of which was his very toned body, that paired with his sparkling green eyes and black hair was a combination that had always made Nicole melt. On top of everything, he had been at the top of her cute lip chart when she made it two years ago.

_Touching you, touching me  
touching you, god you're touching me _

_I believe in a thing called love  
Just listen to the rhythm of my heart  
There's a chance we could make it now  
We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down  
I believe in a thing called love  
Ooh!_

As she danced with him and managed to nervously make small talk Nicole could only think one thing, "Thank God for Tiffany!"

* * *

Meanwhile Dana was watching her date shovel food into his mouth as he retold every detail of the last football game despite the fact that she had already told him that she was there, she saw it and knew everything he was telling her. As she was once again exposed to the semi-chewed food in his mouth she walked away claiming to have to go to the bathroom, but headed the opposite direction knowing he wasn't smart enough to notice, but hoping that when she returned after catching up with Chase, Zoey, Lola, and Michael that her and Hank would start having a better time.

Logan wasn't having the best time either. He didn't actually know anything about Wendy other than the fact that she was hot, but it turned out that he was going to have to start finding out more about girls before he asked them out because Wendy would not shut up.

Wendy rambled, "So Tina was pissed and she said to Amber, 'I'm not your bitch, bitch.' And I turned to Jessica and was like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe she said that.' But then she was like, 'Well I can, Amber's a total bitch.' And she's right, Amber is kind of a bitch, but she's my friend so I was like, 'Well at least she's not a slut like you, slut.' Which is totally true because Jessica's like the slutties girl ever and-"

Logan zoned out for about the millionth time. He had tried concentrating on some of Wendy's attractive features, but didn't find them distracting enough. He was starting to think that all girls we're annoying when they talked. He suddenly interrupted Wendy and said, "Do you wanna dance?" She accepted and they danced but unfortunately that didn't stop her from talking like he thought it would. His night was totally sucking.

* * *

_I never understood before  
I never knew what love was for  
My heart was broke, my head was sore  
What a feeling_

As Aqualung played, Michael and Lola danced to the slow song as they had been dancing all night.

They had been discussing the things Lola was learning to add to her resume and Michael needed to re-cap, "So, you've done gymnastics, tap dancing, piano, harp, and fencing. What's next?"

"Horse back riding and then learning how to sword fight on horse back," Lola said excitedly because she loved learning all the new skills, except the harp did give her calluses.

_Tied up in ancient history  
I didnt believe in destiny  
I look up you're standing next to me  
What a feeling_

"That's so cool. It sounds so fun, I wish I got to do stuff like that," Michael commented.

They were having a great time together as Lola expected so she said, "Well if you're ever free when I have a lesson and you want to come you can. All of the coaches have been pretty cool so I'm sure they'd never mind."

"Really? I might have to take you up on that sometime," Michael said knowing that he would, just maybe after her stuff with horses was finished because he didn't really like horses, they made him nervous.

_What a feeling in my soul  
Love burns brighter than sunshine  
Brighter than sunshine  
Let the rain fall, i don't care  
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine  
Suddenly you're mine  
And it's brighter than sunshine_

"Good," Lola said with a smile as Michael twirled her smoothly.

* * *

Around ten thirty, after Chase and Zoey had been spending the entire night dancing and talking and throwing in random would you rather questions no matter what they were doing, something in the way of progress finally happened.

_Pressure pushing down on me  
Pressing down on you no man ask for  
Under pressure - that burns a building  
down_

It started when "Under Pressure" was playing and Zoey spotted Nicole alone and said, "Oh, no, the dances Quinn and Jack set up must have run out and no one's asking Nicole to dance."

Chase immediately stood up and said, "I'll be right back." He went right up to Nicole and asked her to dance. She accepted gratefully.

_Insanity laughs under pressure we're  
cracking  
Can't we give ourselves one more chance  
Why can't we give love that one more  
chance  
Why can't we give love  
Cause love's such an old fashioned word  
and love dares you to care for_

Zoey watched from the table she had been sitting at with Chase as he basically saved her best friend. She didn't need to ask him to help Nicole, he just did it willingly and chivalrously.

_The people on the edge of the night  
And love dares you to change our way of  
Caring about ourselves  
This is our last dance  
This is our last dance  
This is ourselves  
Under pressure  
Under pressure  
Pressure_

And as the song came to an end and Zoey watched as Chase set Nicole up with a guy from his golf team who was in a pumpkin costume for the next song Zoey decided she was really lucky to know a guy like Chase because she couldn't imagine that a greater guy than him could exist. Zoey asked Chase to dance as soon as he returned, because another dance to another slow song like the one that was playing seemed necessary.

Hinder's "Lips of an Angel" was playing as Nicole danced with Chase's friend Matt and Zoey danced with Chase. But what was strange was the other pair dancing. Hank had said he was going to go talk to some friends and Wendy said she was going to the bathroom, but somehow Hank and Wendy ended up on the dance floor together.

Dana and Logan hadn't seen each other all night. They weren't really avoiding each other there were just a lot of people at the dance and they each had dates to spend time with. But they caught each other's eye as they both caught sight of their dates together.

It was only her eyes Logan had caught over the crowd of moving heads.

_Well, my girls in the next room  
Sometimes I wish she was you  
I guess we never really moved on  
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name  
It sounds so sweet  
Coming from the lips of an angel  
Hearing those words it makes me weak  
And I never wanna say goodbye  
But girl you make it hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel_

She kept moving and flashes of her eyes was all he kept catching as the song progressed and they watched as their dates got closer and closer until finally they were kissing and then making out on the dance floor.

_But girl you make it so hard to be faithful  
With the lips of an angel  
Honey why are you calling me so late_

With the song over and their dates still making out, Logan made his way over to Dana as "Cheating" began playing.

Logan approached wearing a smirk, he hadn't seen her costume yet or she his.

_I said I wasn't cheating then I began repeating  
I said I wasn't cheating then I began repeating  
Thee abundance of redundance flooded her head,_

"The devil, how appropriate," Dana commented with a smirk of her own.

"Nope, remember, I'm the Hot Dark Prince," Logan said giving a twirl in his costume trying to seem dashing, not that he really needed to for Dana had already admitted to herself that he looked really hot in all black. Logan blatantly checked Dana out and commented, "And I see you came as the devil in disguise."

_and she said,  
If I'm leaving with a broken heart,  
You're leaving with a bleedin nose_

"I'm an angel dumb ass," Dana replied because, halo, white, and wings and it was obvious that meant angel.

Logan stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I think we both know that thanks to that mouth of yours you are definitely no angel."

Dana immediately picked up on the double meaning and her jaw dropped offended.

Before she could angrily retort with anything Logan added, "Now that's not an insult, but it's not a compliment either of course. Just, if I had to pick something I disliked least about you that would be it. And I meant it for every way you could take it."

It kind of was a compliment. He was saying he liked her feisty personality that spurred most of the things she said. And he was saying he really enjoyed their library sessions. She didn't argue with the comment and she didn't point out that it was actually a compliment even if he didn't want it to be because she liked it and she didn't want him to take it back.

_This is the last time you'll see me  
This is the last time you'll see me  
Check your mood ring, cause I bet its green  
Check your cash flow and I bet it's low_

She changed the topic and asked, "So what is Wendy supposed to be anyway?"

Logan shook his head as he came to stand by Dana and look out at their dates as he explained, "You know how she spells Wendy with a 'y'?" Dana nodded. "She decided tonight she was Wendie, spelled with and 'ie'. And she decided Wend-i-e would dress a lot more revealing than Wend-y. I thought that was a great thing, at first, but it turned out she's dull, annoying, and not that easy."

"Not that easy for you. Hank didn't seem to face any challenge," Dana taunted with a chuckle directed at Logan.

"And what exactly is Hank supposed to be?" Logan asked changing the topic from him.

"Well since he just wore his football jersey inside out he decided he was the opposite of what his number usually is, which he described as being really weird to suddenly be number eighty-four instead of number forty-eight," Dana explained.

Logan immediately caught on, "But turning his jersey inside out wouldn't make him eighty-four, it's just a backwards four followed by an eight that doesn't look any different."

Dana sighed and said, "I know. I tried to tell him that, but he kept talking about how he was number eighty-four now and it was weird and then I stopped listening because it was boring."

As he jerked his head to their dates Logan concluded, "So it was inevitable then?"

"Yep, they're the two dumbest people ever and completely made for each other," Dana confirmed.

They stood by each other in silence for a while before Logan said, "So…library?"

_I said I wasn't cheating then I began repeating  
I said I wasn't cheating then I began repeating  
I said I wasn't cheating then I began repeating, ohhhhhhhhh_

Dana responded by smirking at him, turning around, and she weaved her way the short distance to the back exit.

Logan followed a couple of steps behind her so it wouldn't necessarily seem like they were leaving together.

_This is the last time you'll see me  
This is the last time you'll see me  
check your mood ring, cause I bet its green  
check your cash flow and I bet it's low_

Though the library was close to the back of the gym and there didn't seem to be anyone out, Dana broke into a run for the unlocked window as soon as Logan came out the doors. He copied her and ran too, but he wasn't fast enough to catch up.

When Logan crawled through the window and onto the stairs, Dana was already in the dark basement standing in the middle of the area that resembled a living room with her back to him.

In the few seconds that Dana was alone in the basement something occurred to her. As she could hear Logan approaching she turned around and decided she needed to voice the thing she just thought of, "Maybe we should go back to the dance."

"What? Why?" Logan asked as he continued to approach her.

Dana sighed and said, "Because…because maybe Chase was right. This is wrong. We don't even like each other and we just ditched a dance where all are friends are to come here, alone."

Logan ignored her words took her hand in one of his and pulled her close with his other. He said to her, "You think too much."

The couldn't hear the music before, but someone obviously turned it up because they could hear "Shout" faintly playing.

_Well, you know you make me want to shout_

"Dance with me," Logan said, not really asking as he began swaying them slowly to the music as his eyes looked into hers steadily.

_Kick my heals up and shout_

_Throw my head back and shout_

_Throw my hands up and shout_

_Come on now, don't forget to say you will _

She was going to protest, she was going to say that it wasn't a slow song.

_Don't forget to say hey yea yeah_

_(Say you will) Say it right now baby_

_(Say you will) Come on Come on_

_(Say you will) Say it right now_

_(Say you will) Yeah_

And she didn't say anything, she didn't look away, she just danced with him.

_Say that you want me (say it)_

_Say that you need me (say it)_

_Say that you wanna (say it)_

_You wanna please me (say it)_

_Come on now, (say it)_

_Come on now, (say it)_

_Come on now_

He didn't say anything, he didn't look away, he just slow danced with her in the dark basement far from the past and everything they knew.

* * *

Back at the dance the rest of the gang were all out on the dance floor letting loose completely to the music.

_I still remember (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_When I used to be five years old (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_I was a fool for you (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_From the bottom of my soul (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_Hey yeah (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_Now that you're older (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop) _

_I wanted to let you know (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_If you wanna leave me (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

_If you wanted to let me go (shooby-doo-wop-doo-wop)_

Quinn was having a great time with Jack as they both danced carelessly to the music.

_Now wait a minute_

_You know you make me want to shout_

_Shout _

_Shout _

_Shout_

_Shout_

_Shout_

Michael and Lola were having a fantastic time singing along as they danced.

_Hey-Hey-A-Hey  
(Hey-Hey-A-Hey)  
Hey-A-Hey-A  
(Hey-A-Hey-A)  
Hey-A-Hey-A)  
(Hey-A-Hey-A)  
Hey-A-A-Hey)  
(Hey-A-A-Hey)_

And Chase was attempting to twirl both Zoey and Nicole at the same time as they were all dancing together.

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

_A little bit louder now (Shout)_

When the song ended it was announced that the next song would be the last slow one of the night. The song was James Blunt's "High".

Nicole received a pleasant surprise. As the announcement was being made and she was catching her breath from the exuberant dancing she was doing with Chase and Zoey, John Ely tapped her shoulder for the second time that night.

"Hi. Remember me? I'm John Ely we danced together earlier," he began and Nicole nodded because she definitely wasn't going to forget. Since she nodded he continued, "Well I saw that you didn't have a partner for the last song, which seemed fun, but I figured you might not have a partner now either and might want to dance again since we can't have you getting kicked off the JV cheer team."

_Beautiful dawn - lights up the shore for me.  
There is nothing else in the world,  
I'd rather wake up and see (with you)._

"I'd love to," Nicole said finding her voice this time.

John took her hand in his and his waist with his other hand and said, "So I danced with a couple of other JV cheerleaders since our last dance and I heard that Tiffany chose the Fanta girl outfits and colors that would be least flattering for each girl."

_Beautiful dawn - I'm just chasing time again.  
Thought I would die a lonely man, in endless night._

"Yeah she did," Nicole said looking down at hers miserably.

John lowered his head a little awkwardly to look in her eyes as he said, "Well if she was trying to make you look bad she definitely didn't succeed because you look great."

_But now I'm high; running wild among all the stars above.  
Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me._

Nicole could only smile in response for her nervousness returned. She knew that she looked far from her best in the yellow pleather outfit (with matching go-go boots), but it was really sweet of him to say that she looked good.

_Beautiful dawn - melt with the stars again.  
Do you remember the day when my journey began?  
Will you remember the end (of time)?_

Zoey laid her head on Chase's shoulder as the rocked back and forth to the music. Knowing that the night was coming to an end she said, "I'm so glad we came together. Tonight's been perfect. I'm so lucky to have you as my best friend."

_Beautiful dawn - You're just blowing my mind again.  
Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine.  
High; running wild among all the stars above.  
Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me._

With her first two sentences Chase thought maybe tonight he could take a chance and he could tell her because as she said the night had been perfect. But then she said those words again, those words that had grown so painful to hear. And all he could do was close his eyes and hope that the song would last a little bit longer, so he could hold her a little bit longer, and pretend just a little bit longer that he wasn't going to have to end the night as her friend.

_Will you be my shoulder when I'm grey and older?  
Promise me tomorrow starts with you,  
Getting high; running wild among all the stars above.  
Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me

* * *

_

The dance ended with a peck on the cheek from Jack for Quinn and a promise that he wanted to see her again soon.

Lola let Michael walk her back to her room and on their way back she decided to hold his hand because she felt like it and Michael didn't really think anything of it. They had already made plans to hang out alone together sometime because they had a really fun time together.

And Zoey insisted that Chase didn't have to walk her all the way up to her room so she parted from him with a friendly hug at the entrance to her building.

Nicole received a kiss on her hand from John when the song ended, but to her disappointment that was all. But she never did really think that the guy who was number one on her cute lip chart was interested in her. At least it seemed she was still on the team for Tiffany didn't say otherwise yet.

Dana and Logan found themselves ending their night a little later than either could have stayed at the dance. Once again they had gotten carried away and lost track of time. Both of them had to sneak back into their rooms trying not to wake their roommates.

The next morning as the gang walked to a late breakfast Logan and Dana found out that neither were quiet enough when sneaking back in.

The order of everyone walking in a horizontal line was Quinn, Nicole, Chase, Zoey, Michael, Lola, Logan, and Dana.

Michael started on the topic of Logan's late entry, "Where were you out to so late last night Logan?"

"Logan was out late? So was Dana," Lola looking at both Dana and Logan for an explaination.

"Just because the dance was over didn't mean the night was," Dana said hoping that it was enough.

"But they closed the gym when the dance ended and everything else was closed," Zoey pointed out.

"Not everything was closed," Logan commented and figured people would have already assumed a place he could be because after all he was Logan Reese. No one said anything so he reminded them, "Dorm rooms."

And Dana covered for herself as well, "And a ton of people from the dance just went over to the football field when they closed the gym and continued the dance."

Everyone seemed to accept their answers and started asking Quinn questions about Jack and what was going to happen with them, so no one noticed when Dana gave Logan a small celebratory that the topic was dropped wink.

But as they came to the front of campus Dana saw someone and froze. She grabbed Logan's wrist.

Contact in public was something they didn't do and it caused him to immediately stop and look back to her. Seeing her face he immediately knew something was wrong and asked, "What's wrong?"

She stayed looking at the person until his question. She met his eyes and said regretfully, "I'm so sorry." She dropped Logan's wrist and looked away back to the person with his back to her and started walking forward towards him again.

Logan reached out after her hand, but when he didn't capture it he ran his hand that missed hers up through his hair as if that was its original purpose.

And Logan continued walking with the gang as Dana was now in front of them heading towards some guy.

The guy turned around, he was tall with shaggy brown hair and a lean build, and when he saw Dana he raced over to her and threw his arms around her and picked her up as he hugged her, clearly thrilled to see her.

_My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble _

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

_When you see him comin', better cut out on the double _

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

The gang had stopped in their tracks, as had Logan, and just wondered who the guy was that was so happy to see Dana.

_You been spreading lies that I was untrue_

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

_So look out now 'cause he's comin' after you_

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

_Hey, he knows what you been tryin' _

_And he knows that you been lyin' _

Without him, or the gang, or the guy who she was hugging able to see her face Dana let herself remain unhappy about this because as soon as they could see her again she was going to have to act happy that her boyfriend was there. But after the last few weeks and last night, she really wished that he didn't exist.

_He's been gone for such a long time_

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

_Now he's back and things'll be fine_

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back_

Now it was the day after the dance and everything seemed the same again for everyone, even with this surprise, but thanks to the dance and this surprise, nothing was ever going to be the same for any of them ever again.

_You're gonna be sorry you were ever born_

_Hey-la, hey-la, my boyfriend's back

* * *

_

**A/N: Direction Notes:** I'd definitely focus in on that hand of Logan's that reaches out for Dana. And I'd end with the camera on Dana and her worried, regretful, confused expression that only the camera (none of the characters) can see.

**A link to pictures of some of the costumes is on my profile.**

**That last song was "My Boyfriend's Back" and I like the version by The Raveonettes for the moment best.**

**Since the chapter was so long I'm going to keep all this end stuff to a minimum**.

**Next episode/chapter:** Titled "These Tangled Webs We Weave" I don't think I need to say much about it. It picks up right where this chapter leaves off and ends at the end of this same day (the day after the dance). I don't want to give anything away so I'll just add that it's the day after the dance and that means there are questions lingering about that need answers.

**Now this is very important:** I need to know if you guys really like this story. If you'd like to see this on TV instead of some of the stuff you've been seeing, I really need you to let me know. If you don't like the story that's fine and you can tell me that to. But this story is just getting started (remember, it is only episode five) and if you like the way I write, my ideas, or anything please let me know. There's a risk I could take and, whether or not if it's smart to, I'm basing whether or not I take it on how much you guys like this. I don't want to say to much about it because if I take it and it doesn't work out then that'd be embarrassing, but if I take it and all goes well the good news would be very wide spread. So if this is something you really like and you've never told me before and you don't plan on telling me again, that's fine, just please let me know now. 

**Thank you for reading and please do REVIEW!**

**-Simply Sarah (Yep, changed my name to one that wasn't on the list, feel free to let me know what you think of it)**

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	7. 6: Lies and Secrets

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of your kind reviews! I'm so sorry that this chapter took me so long, I had finals so I kind of disappeared from the world for a bit, sorry again. This chapter is fairly long like the last few. I'm sorry to those of you who don't like long chapters, but I have the entire story outlined and certain things need to happen in every chapter and it makes them long. Please don't stop reading because of this, just give the long chapters a chance, at least one chance. **

**Oh, and yes I changed the name of the chapter. Thanks to the famous quote by John Steinbeck the whole tangled webs thing is a bit over used. I know that the new title doesn't seem particularly dramatic, but I promise it is very significant. **

**Well there's more notes at the bottom so I'll stop rambling up here and tell you about the music. In order the songs are: "Lies and Secrets" by The Idiots!, "Losing All Control" by Rooney, "Since I Don't Have You" by Guns N' Roses and then it switches to "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer (and this moment they are used is actually my probably poor attempt at playful song humor), "Fallen" by Sarah McLachlan, and "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap (which starts at 2min. 52secs. into the song, which sounds very different from the rest of the song so please give it a chance, the feeling of it is definitely important as is all songs used actually). **

**Okay, enough of my rambling now, on to the chapter:)

* * *

**

_Lies and secrets_

_Lies and secrets_

"I missed you," the surprise visitor claimed as he held Dana tighter. She had been deep in thought and his words didn't register with her. He pulled away concerned by the fact that she hadn't said anything at all. As he held her he studied her face and concluded (incorrectly) that the expression she was wearing must have meant she was still stunned and said, "Aw, you're still in shock, huh? This is a good surprise though, right?"

_Always creeping into the game_

_Call the president_

"Of course," Dana replied as she nodded reassuringly. She smiled, but something seemed to be weighing down the corners of her mouth. She continued playing along, "I just can't believe you're here. How did you even get here?"

_The heads of government _

_To explain it all the way_

"I used like half my savings to fly out because I wanted to see you," he said sweetly and attempted to lean in for a kiss.

_Killing me slowly but I love you so_

But spurred by something she didn't know, Dana dodged his kiss and said trying to find an excuse/distraction, "Oh, um…my friends are all probably eager to meet you since they're kind of watching and seem to be waiting so I should go introduce you."

"Cool, is everyone here? Do I get to meet the entire gang?" he questioned with genuine interest.

_Got a moment of strain now_

_Pulled apart down to an art_

Dana replied after a bit of a pause because she realized just how horrible of an idea this was, but he was here so the meeting was inevitable probably. So she said, "Yeah," and she lead him over to everyone.

_Looking for a new fling now_

_Leave me alone _

_Don't come around here no more_

Six out of seven of the gang had looked on at Dana and the mystery guy with confusion, but for the other one, for him, understanding had dawned. He understood who this guy was; he just didn't know how to think about it. He knew how he should have been thinking about it, but those weren't exactly the things racing through his mind as he saw her so close with him and his hand automatically clenched into a fist, but he wasn't ready to notice that, so he didn't.

As Dana approached the group with her boyfriend she determinedly kept her gaze away from one of the seven on her. Reaching the gang she said, "Guys this is Shane, my boyfriend." Mouths fell open slightly and confusion graced their features. Dana expected all of the looks so she continued quickly anyway, "And Shane this is-"

"Oh let me guess," Shane said excitedly cutting Dana off. He took a close look at everyone and began from left to right, "Let's see pi symbol necklace so you must be Quinn, looks like she's bursting too say something Nicole, bushy hair Chase, blond Zoey, football jersey Michael, being the only other girl left makes you Lola, and the one wearing the infamous smirk makes you Logan, Dana's told me a lot about you."

_Evil minds_

_Empty hearts_

_Insecure _

_In the dark_

No matter what the situation Logan wasn't about to let an ego boosting/screwing with Dana opportunity just pass him by so his smirk grew as he questioned cockily, "Of course she's told you a lot about me, but I wonder, what exactly did she say?"

"Well she told me about all of you, which is why it's really great to finally meet everyone. But specifically about you I think the words egotistical spoiled jerk were frequently used. I think that's just cause you annoy her though and I'm sure all of you are great if my Dana likes hanging around you," Shane said as he sweetly took Dana's hand in his. He continued, not really with any purpose, but he had heard so much about the school and everyone he was talking without thinking anything of it, "But you guys really must not get much time to hang out. This school seems to keep you really busy. I mean, every time I call Dana she's doing something else and we never get to talk for more than five minutes."

Dana was facing weird looks from her friends yet again. She knew that he wouldn't be looking at her with the same confusion but though she could still feel his eyes boring into her, she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. Why it mattered or why she was afraid to do it were things she didn't let cross her mind, it was far too dangerous.

_Gone to school _

_Lesson learned _

Logan noticed her avoidance, how she was clearly uncomfortable, and he decided to have some fun. He smirked still and said, "Well gee that's interesting, but lets get back to what's important, me. I think Cruz left out a few things about me that you need to be informed of-"

"We have to get you checked in!" Dana yelled suddenly in panic. She couldn't resist not looking at him any longer. She glared at Logan, but looking at him she immediately knew by his cocky smirk and struggle not to laugh at her that he was just screwing with her and she was relieved. Her glare quickly faded and she turned back to Shane and explained her outburst trying to brush it off like it was nothing, "Ignore him, he's an idiot. But visitors are supposed to check in when they come on campus so we better get you checked in."

_Once she bites_

_Twice she burns_

"Alright," Shane said with a shrug immediately dismissing the idea that anything weird was going on.

_Lies and secrets_

_Lies and secrets_

Logan looked like he was about to say something else so Dana hurriedly jerked Shane's hand, which was still in hers, away as she turned around and lead him to the office.

_Always creeping into the game_

The couple's pace slowed to normal as they walked away from the silent gang. They watched and wondered until finally Zoey asked referring to the odd exit and directing the question to Logan since he was the one Dana interrupted and who had three other pairs of eyes on him pointedly, "What was that about?"

_Call the president_

_The heads of government _

"I have no idea. I was just going to add that she forgot to tell him that I'm hot, a basketball God, and a gift to woman kind," Logan replied still smirking proud of his work.

_To explain it all the way_

But the gang watched the couple in the distance still and Shane released Dana's hand and wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned into him as they continued to walk and the smirk faded and the three pairs of eyes noticed. Despite the confusion, the change, the gang continued on to their late breakfast as originally planned.

_Killing me slowly but I love you so

* * *

_

As Dana led Shane to the front office he rambled on about how amazing this school was (he had never been to the California coast before and was in slight awe). But Dana was once again not listening. Her thoughts had carried her far from the hallway of the administration building where she was currently with her boyfriend. She knew he was talking though so she smiled and nodded appropriately, but she couldn't seem to stop the persistent thoughts in her head. They got to the right door of the right office so Shane could sign in and get a visitors pass, but she suddenly changed her mind, "Okay so um…you go right through there and tell them you're a visitor they'll handle everything from there."

Dana was starting to back away and what she said sounded like she was leaving so Shane asked, "Wait, what about you? Are you leaving?"

Dana quickly compensated waving it off from worry and said, "Oh, yeah well before I saw you I was actually heading to the bathroom so while you get your pass I'm just going to be down the hall in the restroom, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Shane said smiling acceptingly, not knowing any possible reason not to trust anything she said.

As soon as the door to the office shut behind Shane, Dana hurried to the restroom. Dana opened the door, immediately noticed that the small bathroom of the administration building was empty this Sunday, and she quickly shut the door, locked it, and sunk back against it. She released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

_Once again we've gone off track  
And lost all hope for coming back_

The room being half tile made it cooler than it had been outside, but she didn't notice. Since Shane had arrived there had been thoughts in her head, thoughts she didn't want to have. Her and Shane were complicated so not wanting to see him was pretty normal as far as she was concerned. It was the other thoughts in her head since his arrival that bothered her.

_Well, it's time to restart again  
And try all over again_

It was just kissing. It was just a month. It was just a dance. And it was just Logan. There were rules, nothing could happen, nothing was going to happen, and nothing did happen. But those damn thoughts just kept taunting her. If they could just be in the library right now it would all just melt away. But instead she was in the girl's bathroom on the first floor of the administration building and nothing was going away.

_We've lost all hope (for coming back)_

_We've lost all hope (for coming back)_

_We've lost all hope (for coming back)_

_We've lost all hope (for coming back)_

She took a deep breath that came out shakily. She was absolutely determined, she would leave those thoughts in the bathroom, and once she left everything would be fine again. She didn't want to think these things anymore, they weren't real, they couldn't be.

_Once again we've gone off track  
And lost all hope for coming back  
Well, it's time to restart again  
And try all over again_

She took another deep breath, unlocked the door, and walked back out to the hallway. But surprisingly she ran right into a solid object and stumbled backwards.

"Sorry," said the solid object, Hank.

"Its fine," Dana said quickly before noticing who it was.

Hank continued, "Oh, it's a good thing I ran into you, I was actually looking for you." Dana looked up finally and noticed that it was Hank and she was glad for the distraction from her thoughts, those that she was absolutely determined to forget. He explained, "I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to ditch you. I've kind of had this thing for Wendy for a while and then she was there and it just sort of happened."

"Its fine," Dana repeated, dismissing it. But then she had an idea, "Actually, can you make it up to me?"

"Well, I'm kind of with Wendy now so we can't have like a date re-do," Hank said looking a little confused.

"No, no, not like a re-do, but could you do me a favor?" Dana asked hopefully.

Relieved Hank replied, "Yeah, sure. I mean I've seen the damage you can do so I really owe you for not beating the hell out of me for ditching you."

"Good," Dana said quickly and moved onto the plan, "So my boyfriend showed up just now-"

"Oh, well he won't hear about me taking you to the dance? Or has he heard already and he's looking for me?" Hank interrupted jumping to conclusions.

"No, I mean yes, don't tell him, but could you keep him occupied for a while?" Dana asked pleadingly.

"What?" Hank asked completely lost.

Dana debated whether to explain and how to explain, but she decided to go for it because she really needed this, "It's just that things with him are complicated and he just showed up out of no where. I need some time to…think."

Hank nodded in comprehension and inquired, "About Logan?"

"What?" Dana managed to breathe out in total shock.

Hank explained, "I saw you leave the dance with Logan. I mean, I already figure he liked you since he didn't tell me about you and he always shares hot girls, he's always generous about that."

Dana didn't let herself give his words any merit, it wasn't possible, it'd be insane. So she went on the defensive and said, "No, there's nothing with Logan. I mean we've…but it's nothing, trust me."

"Well-" Hank began to say something that would clearly contradict Dana.

But Dana cut him off stating forcefully, "It's nothing."

"Okay," Hank said putting his hands up in surrender and praying that Dana wouldn't hit him. He knew about the bruises she was capable of leaving and she was looking pretty scary at the moment so even though he was a pretty big guy, he was intimidated by the petite brunette in front of him.

"Okay," Dana said calming down. She glanced at the door of the office Shane was in and said hurriedly, "So his name is Shane, he's getting a visitors pass now and just keep him distracted for a while. Call me if you need me to take him back or I'll call you when I can have him around again."

"Alright," Hank said figuring he'd come up with something.

"Thank you so much. I completely owe you for this," Dana said gratefully.

But Hank shook his head dismissing the idea that she owed him anything and said helpfully, "You better get going if you don't want him to come out and find you still here."

Dana took his advice and thanked him again as she hurried out of the administration building.

* * *

Meanwhile breakfast with the gang wasn't as talkative as would be expected the morning after a dance or after suddenly learning that Dana has a boyfriend.

As Logan shoveled in his breakfast as usual he decided that he officially knew what it was like to be Zoey. Chase seemed to always be watching him instead of his normal routine of watching Zoey.

A little while into breakfast Zoey finally asked just to double check, "Did anyone know Dana had a boyfriend?"

While Chase and Michael simply shook their heads Lola replied, "No, and I was trying to think of a time when I've heard her on the phone, but anytime that I did I always assumed it was her parents because she never seemed to want to be talking to whoever was on the other end. And with how she gets along with her parents, hanging up quick just seemed normal."

"Yeah and I've asked her like a hundred times if she had a boyfriend in France and she always said no," Nicole added.

"Well he doesn't have an accent so I don't think he's French and if she said no to that then she probably didn't meet him over there," Quinn guessed.

"Oh," Nicole said realizing her question phrasing mistake.

Lola, however, had realized that there was someone who hadn't responded at all, "Logan, what about you?"

"What?" He asked as he chewed a mouthful of pancake which he was eating like a taco.

Zoey grimaced at the sight of half chewed food but replied, "I asked if anyone knew if Dana had a boyfriend, you didn't respond so Lola was asking you if you knew."

"Oh," Logan said as he began making another pancake taco, stuffing it with scrambled eggs and sausage. He explained, "Well I don't really listen when you girls talk unless you mention my name, otherwise I really have no interest in anything you're saying. So if Dana ever did say something about him when she was arguing or something then I didn't hear it because it wasn't about me."

He didn't seem different. That was a typical Logan thing to do. And he really didn't usually seem to be listening to them.

With a skeptical eye on him, Lola accepted it and said, "You can stop listening again then."

"Cool," Logan said with a shrug as he got back to shoveling in the newly built pancake taco in his hand.

Not noticing that her best friend and two others at the table kept looking to Logan like they were checking on him or waiting for something, Zoey admitted, "I just don't understand why she wouldn't tell us. And why would she go to the dance with Hank when she has a boyfriend?"

No one responded because no one had any answers.

Zoey was about to continue on wondering out loud about the situation, but Nicole interrupted her, "Oh there's Dana." Everyone followed Nicole's line of sight to see Dana practically speed walking across campus and heading back towards their dorm, alone.

"Let's go," Zoey said standing up and picking up her tray. She was determined to know what was going on. And she was sure something had to be going on because nothing made sense and she was just naïve enough to think that all things made sense.

Lola, Nicole, and Quinn followed Zoey and said hurried goodbyes to the guys.

As soon as the girls were out of ear shot Chase asked Logan concerned, "Are you okay?"

Logan finished chewing his last bite of his last pancake taco and replied like it should have been obvious, "Yeah." Knowing what Chase was referring too, but wanting to emphasize that there was nothing going on Logan asked slowly, "Are you okay?"

Logan got up and dumped his tray and Chase followed, he knew what Logan was doing, but he wasn't convinced that it was all really nothing.

Michael followed because he really had no idea what was going on. He asked as he followed Chase who was following Logan who seemed to be heading to their dorm, "What's going on? Why are you asking each other if you're all right? And why isn't anyone asking me?"

"I have no idea," Logan said rather convincingly.

Since Logan was being so stubborn, which Chase really should have expected, Chase responded to Michael as they entered their building, "Never mind, it's nothing."

But Michael had already caught on and he wanted to know what they weren't saying. He retorted as they made their way up to their room, "No it's clearly not nothing. There's something going on here and you guys are going to tell me. I'm not getting left out of stuff. We three have been roommates for the past seven years, it has always been a triple room and it's not gonna be a like a double now because we keep secrets from each other. You are telling me everything."

"Or what?" Logan asked as he opened their door and entered their room.

"Or…or…I'm calling your moms and telling them you're hiding things," Michael said taking out his cell phone and holding it up threateningly.

"What?" Chase asked a little confused because, though he feared the consequences of Michael telling his mom that he had a secret because then his mom would start asking questions and who knows what he would reveal. But Chase was also confused because how could Michael call his mom or Logan's mom?

"I know their numbers by heart and I will do it if you don't tell me what's actually going on," Michael revealed.

Looking at Michael like this was very strange because it was, Logan commented, "Dude that's kind of weird."

"Or really helpful right now," Michael argued. Logan and Chase weren't admitting anything though so he started dialing as he said, "Mrs. Reese, 818-55-"

"Okay I'll tell you just drop the phone," Logan caved and Michael put the phone away. Logan knew from the minute Michael mentioned his mom he was going to have to tell Michael everything. It was really clever on Michael's part to resort to Logan's mom. After all these years of living together they knew each other too well. Logan added, "But just like Chase you can't tell anybody, especially my mom."

They all sat down on their couch and Logan told Michael about all the things of the past month that went unnoticed.

* * *

Dana had raced up the stairs and into her room not knowing that she had a trail of girls following her. As soon as she slammed her door shut and got three steps into her room the door swung open again and four out of breath girls came in.

Nicole walked past Dana and collapsed out of breathe on the couch as she said, "You walk way too fast."

Before Dana could ask why they were all there (though she had a pretty good idea), Zoey dove right in, "Why didn't you tell us about Shane? And where is he?"

Dana started pacing as she replied, "I ran into Hank and had him keep Shane busy for a while."

"Why?" Lola asked curiously from her bed.

"It's complicated," Dana tried to get away with saying. But she knew that they wanted explanation and she might as well tell them. It's not like they could know anything else from her talking about Shane. She sat down and explained, "It's just that he's not my boyfriend. Well, he is technically, but not because I want him to be. We went out before I came here the first time and then I broke up with him before I left for here. I was his first girlfriend and when I came home the summer before Paris he was with his second girlfriend. And when I came home last summer after Paris they were still together. But then after I was home like two weeks she broke up with him. It was brutal and public. He was crushed, I think he really loved her or something. So then we were bored and hanging out and we ended up back together. But as soon as we got back together I remembered all the reasons I broke up with him besides being half way across the country. He's boring and he never has an opinion of his own and he's clingy. I don't like him, but I've already broken up with him once so I didn't want to do it again. Even though I don't like him he's still a nice guy and I can't do that to him again. So I didn't end it when I left and I figured he'd get tired of long distance and meet someone else. All I'd have to do is wait and he'd lose interest and break up with me."

"But instead he flew out here to see you," Lola said figuring out the problem.

"Yeah, so I guess I'm still waiting. But I'm still trying to get him to lose interest so I thought even though he's here I'd still avoid him for a while," Dana explained.

"Why didn't you tell us about him?" Zoey repeated.

Dana shrugged and replied, "I guess I figured there wasn't anything to tell. I was hoping he'd end it by now."

"Why don't you just break up with him?" Quinn asked not quite understanding why Dana hadn't if she didn't want to be with him that much.

Dana revealed her reasoning, "He's been in three relationships, two of them with me, and if I break up with him again then he's always the one to get dumped. Don't you think that's the beginning of something that would give a guy a complex?"

"True. All of that makes sense," Lola supported, but she wasn't as curious about Shane as she was about something else. She continued, "But how is this whole secret boyfriend thing going to affect that other secret?"

"What secret?" Dana asked playing dumb and hoping that she didn't know.

"Oh I don't know," Lola said as she got up and walked across the room to Dana's bed, she reached underneath and pulled out a red cape and said in triumphant accusation, "maybe that you were with Logan last night."

With gasps from Nicole and Zoey, Dana immediately jumped up in her own defense claiming, "It's a red cape, he wasn't the only one at the dance with a red cape. It doesn't mean anything."

"Except Logan's the only one that had Hot Dark Prince sewn in the back," Lola said as she flipped it over to show that the words were there.

Dana shrugged trying to brush it off and lied, "So I stole it from him. He screws with me, I screw with him. How exactly do you think this is a secret?"

"Because you're secretly having some kind of torrid affair with Logan," Lola accused.

Dana laughed disbelievingly and said, "And you got that from a cape?"

Lola smiled and shook her head, "No, I got that from when you grabbed his wrist and told him you're so sorry this morning right before you took off to greet Shane." Dana's face suddenly sunk, everything was crashing down around her. No one was supposed to know. And she wasn't supposed to think about this anymore, those thoughts were supposed to be left in the first floor bathroom of the administration building. Lola continued on offering the proof to her theory to everyone, "Last Wednesday when we went to talk to Quinn about Jack did anyone notice anything different about Dana's appearance?"

As Zoey shook her head, Nicole offered, "She was wearing that really cute red skirt."

"And…" Lola prompted so they could get to the same thing she had.

Quinn hesitated but said, "Well, I remember thinking her lips looked different. I wasn't really sure though I just though they maybe looked a little…puffy?"

"Yes," Lola said excitedly and explained, "Dana wasn't working on a paper in the library she was making out with some secret guy long enough to get her lips all swollen. And when I asked her if it was Hank she didn't say yes because she couldn't because it wasn't Hank. And now that this morning made it clear that it's Logan it all fits. I've found them in here alone together. And-"

"She's been late to everything and so has he," Quinn finished.

"Oh my God," Nicole said shocked and completely believing it.

"Logan?" Zoey questioned.

"Ew," Nicole said reading most of their minds.

"Logan?" Zoey repeated not understanding why any of it was happening.

"Ew," Nicole repeated at the mention of his name.

"Seriously, Logan?" Zoey said again since she wasn't getting a response.

"Ew," Nicole couldn't help saying again at the mention of his name.

Dana hadn't been responding to their incessant questioning. This was not how she expected this day would go. It was the day after the dance, she thought she'd be hearing about how Chase didn't do anything to make himself more than Zoey's friend, what Lola's decided about Michael, how Quinn's date with Jack went, and a detailed account of every guy Nicole danced with. But this, she didn't think she'd ever have to admit this. In fact she didn't think about it in the future in anyway. It was always a just in the moment type of thing. But one thing was clear, they knew and she had no way of denying it. She had to admit it, but she didn't have to give it any meaning because it didn't have any, "Yeah. So?"

With her eyes practically bugged out of her head Zoey couldn't believe she had to say, "So? So it's Logan just…"

"Ew!" Nicole repeated the thought and filled in Zoey's thought at the same time.

"So you are really with him?" Lola checked. She knew all the things she figured out pointed to it being true, but she still wasn't one hundred percent sure.

"No," Dana said quickly and explained, "I'm not with Logan. We were just bored so we've been occasionally having a little fun. It doesn't mean anything. I still can't stand him when he talks."

"Ew!," Nicole repeated, but this time added, "Why?"

"Like I said, I didn't have anything better to do," Dana said with a shrug. Her friends seemed to share the same confused looks so she added, "And besides, you know how we always thought he had that enormous ego for nothing? Well, it turns out it wasn't for nothing."

"It's that good?" Lola inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh yeah," Dana said in a slightly breathy but deeply satisfied tone, "I definitely recommend giving it a try."

"You wouldn't care?" Zoey asked still not fully understanding the situation.

"Why would I?" Dana returned.

"I don't know anymore. This is all really confusing," Zoey said as she sat down on the couch.

"No it's not," Dana began. She started pacing slowly again as she explained, "I'm still with Shane because breaking up with him again would be mean. I'm not with Logan because I really don't like him, but we do have a little fun when we're bored. And Hank ditched me at the dance because he likes Wendy McCoy and they're together now."

"Hank's with Wendy? Oh my gosh, but didn't Andrew Jameson like her too?" Nicole asked getting side tracked by gossip.

"I don't know," Dana replied clueless.

"It hasn't been little," Lola commented to everyone's confusion.

"What?" Dana asked figuring that the comment was probably directed at her since it seemed to be "Let's talk about all of Dana's secret's day."

"Your fun with Logan, it hasn't been little," Lola explained what she was referring to and continued, "You're always no where to be found and you have been for a long time. I thought maybe that was just how you are. That maybe you just like spending as little time in your room as possible, but that's not it. You're never here because you're always with him."

"How long has this been going on?" Zoey questioned.

"Since the election," Dana was able to answer promptly since they had just figured that out a few days earlier when Chase asked.

"That was a month ago! You've been with Logan a month? A month?" Zoey questioned frantically.

"That's exactly what Chase said," Dana let slip in surprise at the similarity of their responses.

"Chase knew?" Nicole asked as it seemed Zoey had suddenly lost her eagerness to question and comment.

"He walked in on us last week and we threatened him extensively not to tell," Dana explained trying to make it seem like Chase didn't have a choice because though she didn't really know what was going on, she did notice the sudden silence of her friend.

Lola wasn't sure what to believe anymore. She checked, "So after a month it's still nothing?"

"Of course," Dana promptly replied and continued, "it's still Logan. He didn't get a new personality so it's not possible for it to ever develop into anything."

"But he didn't know about Shane," Quinn stated for she knew it was true, that much she thought was clear.

"Why would I tell him and not any of you?" Dana replied reasonably, but also faultily.

"Because you're with him, but not with him," Lola offered in language she figured Dana couldn't argue with.

Dana understood and thought that it would have been clear, but explained anyway, "The fact that it wasn't monogamous was very clearly implied by the whole not liking each other thing."

It seemed perfectly reasonable, but the thing that made Lola realize that there was something going on between Dana and Logan made Lola question, "Then why'd you tell him that you were sorry?"

Dana had been wondering about that herself quite a bit, until she left the bathroom at least. She offered the only reason she was willing to accept, "I couldn't think of anything else to say."

Zoey had been silent for while, she had only vaguely been listening to the conversation though she had been very interested in it. She spoke finally as she got up and left, "I need to go. Good luck with everything Dana."

This was strange so with everyone exchanging worried glances Nicole was the first to get up and go after her.

"So what are you going to do?" Lola asked curiously.

"I'm going to let Hank deal with Shane until he can't anymore. And by the time that I see Shane again I hope he's really pissed that I'm avoiding him and he breaks up with me," Dana said as she plopped back down on the couch and turned on the TV.

* * *

"Whoa," Michael said in response to Logan's fairly brief tale of the last month. In a state of information overload he spoke to speak and without really thinking, "So I guess that explains why Chase was asking you if you're okay." Michael paused and then asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Logan replied not really understanding why he kept getting asked this question when he already made it perfectly clear that him and Dana weren't anything.

"Because Dana has a boyfriend," Chase explained though he thought it was obvious.

"So," Logan said still not getting it. It wasn't that Logan was actually that slow, it was just easier to deal with if he tried to make sure he didn't understand.

"What do you mean so? She has a boyfriend. The only girl you've ever seen more than once has a boyfriend," Chase ranted on not understanding how Logan wasn't getting the significance.

Though the question had already been asked, Michael repeated thinking maybe the answer had been a lie earlier, "Did you already know or something?"

Logan was getting pretty tired of this so he replied lazily, "No, but like I said, we were just having fun. You know me, I don't actually like a girl, I just keep things simple, easy, and fun."

"But you've been with her for a month," Chase repeated.

"And I still don't get why that's a big deal," Logan said as he checked himself out in the mirror.

Chase looked to Michael and Michael gave him the go ahead to explain what they were both thinking. Chase explained, "Because you haven't ever gone on a second date with a girl or made out with one twice no matter how hot she was. The girl you're with one day is never the same girl you're with the next. And once you've been with a girl for however brief of a time, you never go back. But you've been with Dana a month, you've kept going back for a month."

"That doesn't mean anything," Logan quickly declared. He explained, "I don't see girls twice because then they start to think that it's going somewhere like a relationship and I have absolutely no desire to be in one of those. But me and Dana had an arrangement, we didn't want it to turn into anything because that girl is still annoying as hell, but it turns out that she can also make you forget your own name. So we've been having fun, it's convenient and no matter how much we use each other we know it's not going anywhere because we didn't want it to."

Michael shot Chase a small glance before saying, "That actually kind of made sense, for you at least."

"Of course it did," Logan said as he sprayed on some cologne. He checked himself in the mirror again and said cockily, "I'm Logan Reese and I don't do crushes or relationships. But I guess I'll have to find another casual thing since Dana's boyfriend is here. And since I have needs that need to be fulfilled, I'll see you guys later, I'm going girl hunting." With that being said and an appropriately confident smirk Logan left.

As soon as the door shut behind Logan, Michael questioned, "You noticed his tense change in that little explanation too, right?"

"Yep, and it all sounds like Logan, but I don't know, maybe there is something there," Chase pondered. Chase shrugged, giving up on the situation because it wasn't really any of his business and sat down at his computer.

Michael, however, didn't want all conversation to be over. There were things he needed to discuss, "So how'd last night go with Zoey? I know you're still friends, but any developments?"

"Yeah there is," Chase said spinning around in his computer chair so he was facing Michael who was on the couch. Zoey's words had been haunting Chase, it seemed like he heard them so often and he was starting to come to certain conclusions. He decided to share those conclusions with Michael, "Zoey called me her best friend again and I am, but I think that that's all I'm supposed to be. I mean the one time I actually tried to tell her fate intervenes and she doesn't get the message. And I think that these past months I haven't been getting the message fate was trying to tell me. Me and Zoey aren't meant to be anything more than friends and it's time for me to accept that and move on."

"What? You've got to be kidding me. I just found out about you two and now you're giving up," Lola said bursting into the room after clearly eavesdropping on the conversation and causing both male occupants to jump up in surprise.

"You told her?" Chase quickly accused Michael.

But before Michael could respond, Lola quickly defended, "He didn't have to, everyone knows, it's completely obvious you're in love with Zoey. Though, I did catch on a little later than everyone else."

"Everyone knows," Chase said disbelievingly just above the sound of a whisper as he sunk down onto the couch.

"Yeah, except Zoey," Michael assured. He continued because this conversation had already began, and Chase might as well know how far everyone extended, "But other than that pretty much everyone. A lot of guys know because Logan spread the word back in the first year Zoey was here that she was off limits. It was his way of helping you out, giving you a better chance. A lot of girls know because, I don't know, but they just seem to notice it. And then Mr. Bender and Dean Rivers and one of the cafeteria ladies seems to know too, you know, the one with the gray hair that's about four foot something, the nice one." With a pause while he let it sink in with Chase, Michael realized he had an important question for Lola, "This whole not knocking thing is just this once right?"

Lola knew that not knocking was sort of overstepping a person's personal boundaries, but she had her reasons. "Yes," she agreed, "but this situation didn't leave time for knocking. He's giving up."

The fact that everyone knew still hadn't really sunk in with Chase, but there were more important things to think about at the moment. The rest of the world could be left for later, right now Chase needed to talk about Zoey and what he thought about them. He retorted to Lola's comment, "I'm not giving up, I'm just…accepting that I'm not supposed to be with her."

"And that's what you got from the tekmate situation?" Lola questioned.

"Yeah, her tekmate falling in the fountain when I told her I love her was clearly a sign that she's not supposed to know because we're just supposed to be friends, nothing more. And it's past time that I accept that and move on. I mean it's only every day that I get reminded that I'm just her friend, I really should have noticed by now that that's all I'm supposed to be," Chase reasoned. He had been doing a lot of thinking lately and that was the only conclusion he came up with. But the lately he had been thinking was actually the previous night, after the dance, after hearing her call him her best friend again, after feeling like he had actually been more all night and then had it all ripped away in a single moment. With nights like the previous, he was quickly losing hope.

Luckily he had friends like Michael and Lola. Michael explained, "Yes Chase, I agree, the tekmate falling in the fountain was a sign. But did you ever consider that maybe the sign was that you shouldn't tell Zoey you love her in a text message over an electronic device?"

"I definitely wouldn't want a guy to confess his love for me in a text message, it's too impersonal," Lola chimed in.

"Exactly," Michael agreed, "fate wasn't telling you to give up on Zoey. It was just preventing you from ruining things with her by telling her wrong. You are meant to be with Zoey, you love her. But you can't tell her you love her because you're sorry for a mistake you made; you can't tell her you love her in a text message. You have to tell her you love her when the moment is right, and that moment wasn't right, that's why her tekmate fell in the fountain. Think about it." Michael concluded and, to Lola's confusion, took her hand and lead her out of the room. He answered Lola's unspoken question once the door shut behind them, "He needs time to think alone."

They continued down the hallway, Michael still holding Lola's hand, in silence until they got to the elevator and Michael asked, "Why'd you come by anyway?"

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. As they got in Lola responded, "To see you, we have a new project besides Chase and Zoey now."

Michael had a feeling he knew what she was referring to and he knew that if he was right the day was going to continue to be very interesting.

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?" Nicole asked Zoey for about the fifteenth time since they left Lola and Dana's room.

They were at the small coffee shop on campus, which was always crowed as it was this Sunday.

Zoey took another sip of her mocha and assured, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed some caffeine."

Even though Zoey had always said she was fine in response to her question, Nicole still didn't believe that Zoey was actually okay. There was just something off about her, but since she obviously didn't want to talk about it, Nicole didn't want to harp on the subject. So, Nicole changed the subject, "So this whole Logan, Dana thing is weird."

After a beat of silence Zoey responded simply, "Yeah." She was clearly somewhere else in her head, somewhere far from Nicole's attempts at conversation.

But her friend re-gained her attention when she let out a small yelp. "What?" Zoey asked.

Looking like she was so excited she was about to jump out of her seat, Nicole said in a rush that Zoey had learned to understand, "John Ely just walked in and while he was ordering he looked over at me and smiled. He smiled at me!" But as soon as Nicole had finished her excited gush, she got skeptical, "Wait, maybe it wasn't me. Is there anyone behind me that he could have been smiling at?"

Zoey looked behind Nicole and saw three guys all staring at a laptop in front of them. She figured it was pretty safe to say, "No there's not really anyone there. I think that smile was meant for you."

Nicole squealed and glanced back up to see that John was receiving his freshly made to order drink. She decided not to look and seem like she was waiting for him to come and join them, but she was really hoping he would come over.

After a minute passed and he hadn't come over, Zoey got impatient and didn't want her friend to get depressed jumping to conclusions as to why he hadn't come and said, "Just look and see where he went Nicole. Maybe he was here with friends. He could still come over."

Nicole looked up and around the small coffee shop once, then again, and said, "I don't see him."

This prompted Zoey to turn around and scan the small room as well. She thought, "Well, he couldn't have just disappeared." But it seemed that that was exactly what had happened because as far as anyone could see, John Ely was not in the coffee shop.

* * *

John Ely was in fact in the coffee shop though. He had been dragged through a door labeled staff by a very angry looking Tiffany.

"What the hell were you doing?" Tiffany demanded as she quickly released his forearm that she had dragged him in by.

"Whatever do you mean sis?" John retorted playing innocent.

"I told you not to call me that," she growled, "you being my stepbrother is only temporary. I'm making sure of that."

"Still claiming that? It's been two years and all of your stupid little attempts to get your daddy's attention back on you instead of my mom have gone completely unnoticed. Time to give up, isn't it Tiff?" John taunted knowing she hated that name as well.

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" Tiffany lamely retorted.

"Yes," John quickly confirmed before she could try and say something else, "I love my mom and I want her to be happy. Your dad makes her happy so I'm happy for her. I know that's a hard concept for you to understand since you're a heartless bitch, but us humans actually want the people we love to be happy."

"Screw you!" Tiffany yelled angrily to his insult. Changing the subject and getting back to the point she added, "Just stay away from Nicole and all of my other cheerleaders."

"Or what?" John asked knowing that she wasn't finished.

"Or your mom's not going to be so happy anymore," Tiffany said with an evil glint in her eye. She closed in on John making the space between them almost nonexistent. She looked up and met his eyes as she said confidently, "I always get what I want. I want you to stay away from my cheer squad. If you don't then I'll just have make my dad hate your mom. And don't doubt me because it's always been me and my dad, I know how to pull all of his strings and I know exactly how to get him to leave your mom. It's a little extreme, but if you don't do what I want then I'll just have to do it anyway. And I'll make sure he doesn't let your mom and your stupid little brother and sister and you get a single cent of his money so that you go back to the trailer park where you belong." She paused, she could see the threat was sinking in with him, and then she added, "So are you willing to risk your mom's happiness and your family's financial security for one of the pathetic girls that I'm forced to be nice to?"

"You're never nice," John said honestly.

Smoothly Tiffany replied, "Actually this has been my nice. If you want to see what I'm like when I'm not nice, keep watching. You have one week to make the right decision, and during that week you'll be seeing just how not nice I actually am." With that Tiffany strutted out of the small back storage room. She was confident that John would give in to her demand and in the mean time, she was going to enjoy being as malicious as she wanted.

When John exited the back room, he hurriedly made his way past Nicole as he hid behind other people. His mom and his brother and sister were really happy with Tiffany's dad and if he was thinking smartly then he was going to have to give Tiffany what she wanted because if the Tiffany he knew was her being nice, then her week of mean was going to be horrible, for everyone.

* * *

Michael and Lola had been seated in the empty outdoor seating of the cafeteria for quite some time. They exchanged every detail of the conversations they had had that day, which only left both of them with questions.

Her story of what happened in Dana's room just completed, Michael asked Lola, "If you knew that Dana and Logan were together last night then why didn't you say something this morning when I brought it up with them?"

"First of all, I wanted to be able to spontaneously reveal the cape for dramatic affect," Lola explained as if that should have been obvious, "And secondly I wanted to see how they would cover and if it would be easy for them. They covered so smoothly it just further convinced me that I was right and this thing with them had been going on a while."

"Yeah an entire month," Michael mentioned pointedly.

It took Lola a second, but she caught on to its meaning, "Logan doesn't do months. He doesn't even do twice. Oh, this is big, this is really big."

"I don't know," Michael began doubtfully, "Logan's reason for it being able to continue did make sense for him. This is a complicated one. Why are we trying to figure it out again?"

"Because I'm not getting left out of the loop again this year, this year I'm going to be very in on everything. Plus, I'm curious, and what if they need extra help just like Chase and Zoey?" Lola reasoned.

This prompted Michael to ask, "What have we done to help Chase and Zoey?"

"You're constantly making sure that Chase doesn't give up on Zoey. And in twenty minutes you're going to go check on him again to make sure he hasn't decided to do something stupid. That's what you're doing and I'm working on some things," Lola concluded mysteriously. She sighed and added playfully, "Besides, don't you like having an excuse to spend your day hanging out with me?"

He did actually, he had fun being with her, so Michael didn't respond to the comment, he just smiled and said, "So what are we deciding about Logan and Dana? Is there really nothing between them or is there something?"

Lola smiled at the questions because she knew he wanted to stay with her, but the questions were still too confusing. She voiced her concerns, "I have no idea. There are just too many things we don't know. Like, how did it start? Did they ever do anything besides making out? How did Dana end up with his cape? Did she actually take it or he give it to her?"

"Is it over? Because it seems like they're both talking like it is, but why? If she was in a relationship and continues to be then what's changed?" Michael pondered cutting Lola off.

"Oh that's good," Lola commented and paused to think about it. It really didn't make sense. If Logan and Dana weren't exclusive at all, then why did the arrival of Dana's boyfriend suddenly end things. Sure, while her boyfriend was there they'd have to stop fooling around, but why were they both talking like they wouldn't continue after he left? Only one reason occurred to Lola, "Maybe it's over because something changed and Dana's boyfriend showing up was just a convenient out. But what could have changed?"

Michael had absolutely no idea. He figured that the obvious answer was that what they had wasn't nothing anymore and that's what changed. But if they had something and it was now over, shouldn't one of them or both of them let off some kind of sign that they were ending something important. Because Dana and Logan didn't seem any different, completely unaffected by what was going on, and if it meant something then that just didn't seem like the way they should have been acting.

Lola was having the same dilemma and she was tired of it. She took out her cell phone and as she scrolled through her phone book Michael asked, "Who are you calling?"

"Dana, I'm getting answers," Lola said determinedly.

"Hello," Dana answered.

Lola began, "Hey Dana-"

"Oh thank God it's just you. I thought it might have been Hank and I didn't want to have to take Shane back yet," Dana interrupted relieved. Getting back on track, she asked, "So what's up?"

"I need to ask you some questions," Lola replied.

"Okay, just make it quick I'm watching a re-run of_ Friends_ and I like this episode," Dana said slightly distracted by the television.

"What episode?" Lola asked curiously.

"The Thanksgiving one with Brad Pitt," Dana replied promptly.

"Oh that's a good one," Lola commented wondering if maybe she should just go back to their room and watch too while she talked to Dana, but decided against it because results would need to be shared with Michael and she was already with him. Getting back to her purpose Lola continued, "Okay, well first question: who started this thing between you and Logan?"

"Don't know," Dana said evading having to answer.

Lola sighed frustrated and said, "Yes you do. If you want to get back to watching TV then just answer the questions honestly the first time so we don't have to keep going through this. Now who kissed who first?"

There was silence from Dana's side until finally she said, "He kissed me."

"What was going on when he did it?" Lola quickly questioned.

"We were arguing, he was losing and he kissed me," Dana said as simply as possible.

"What happened next?" Lola inquired.

"I hit him. We yelled some more. Then we made out for a while," Dana explained not noticing that it didn't really make sense.

"How did you end up making out with him?" Lola asked confused.

Dana hadn't ever actually wondered about that. It seemed pretty natural in the moment, but she didn't want to say that, it didn't seem like the right answer so she said, "I don't know."

Lola actually believed her this time so she moved on to more recent events, "How'd you actually end up with his cape?"

"I took it from him," Dana repeated, but knowing that she wasn't getting away that easily she detailed, "He had taken it off just like I took off my wings. Then I got cold and picked it up off the floor and put it on. When I left later I forgot to give it back."

"What'd he say when you put it on?" Lola asked thing Logan wouldn't like anyone taking his stuff.

"Nothing," Dana said suspiciously because she didn't understand why Lola would ask that.

"What else happened last night between you two?" Lola asked because she had been thinking that something had changed.

"Usual. Did you want details?" Dana asked though no matter what the answer she wasn't saying anything else.

Lola immediately responded, "No, no, no."

"Good," Dana said and continued trying to guess at why Lola could have asked that, "and if you were worried that I'd let him get too far or something then you have nothing to worry about. Since it was meaningless and we wanted to keep it that way, I have rules and Logan knows them. He never got past first base."

Lola covered her phone with her hand and pointed out to Michael who had also been listening, "She changed tenses too." But getting back to the conversation with Dana she responded, "Good, just checking. So did you ever do anything besides the usual?"

Yes, they did, and she hated saying it, but if she lied wouldn't it mean more? So Dana didn't deny it, she said as flatly as possible to try and emphasize how not big of a deal it was, "Yeah, we danced once last night cause of the whole dance thing."

This definitely increased Lola's interest, "At the dance or when you were alone and where were you alone?"

"Alone in the library basement," Dana answered and added sensing Lola's next question, "and yes, the library has a basement."

"What song?" Lola promptly questioned.

_Friends_ had distracted her so Dana didn't quite catch the quick question and had to ask, "Huh?"

"What song?" Lola repeated a little irritated.

"Shout," Dana replied still slightly distracted.

That wasn't what Lola was expecting, her brows furrowing she asked, "So it wasn't a slow dance?"

"No, it was," Dana answered and she knew what Lola was thinking, she had been trying not to think it herself.

"'Shout' is not a slow song," Lola stated.

"I know," Dana immediately replied firmly because pausing or faltering at all would just be another thing that would mean too much. Not liking any of the things that she thought Lola may say next Dana lied, "I'm getting beeped. Someone's trying to call me and it might be Hank so I've got to go." Dana hung up and turned up the volume on_ Friends _to drown out all thoughts.

"It was surprisingly easy to get all of that out of her," Michael commented.

"Of course it was, if it was difficult and she didn't just unemotionally answer the questions she thinks we would be suspicious," Lola explained catching on to her roommate's thought process.

Catching on to the twinkle in Lola's eye Michael knew, "But we're suspicious anyway aren't we?"

"With good reason we're suspicious," Lola said with a mischievous smile, "and I have an idea. I'll call you when I've completed my plan and meanwhile you should go keep an eye on Chase, make him see hope."

Michael obeyed and headed back up to his room to aid his friend who was losing faith as Lola sought out to put her plan into motion, but for that she needed to find Logan.

* * *

Logan had headed out of his room a while ago. His intent was to go girl hunting, a favorite pastime of his, but he had yet to actually start.

_I don't have plans and schemes  
And I don't have hopes and dreams_

No, he was not wandering around campus thinking about everything that had happened. He was just walking because it was good exercise and basketball season was coming up. And no, he wasn't thinking about her. Okay maybe he was, but not in any special way, no matter what happened with a girl or what kind of a personality she had, he couldn't help but continue to appreciate their anatomy.

_I, I, I don't have anything  
Since I don't have you_

That was all it ever was. He wasn't wandering, he wasn't thinking, he wasn't doing anything, because it hadn't meant anything.

_And I don't have fond desires  
And I don't have happy hours_

Even though he had asked her to dance and that wasn't what they were about either. He didn't know why he did it; it just seemed to come naturally.

_I don't have anything  
Since I don't have you_

He kept doing things with her without thinking. But not now, now he wasn't thinking of her at all. Nope, never, he could never do that, be captivated by a single girl and especially a girl like her.

_Happiness and I guess  
I never will again_

It hadn't happened, it wasn't happening, and right now he was just walking. There was nothing in his head just like there was nothing between them.

_When you walked out on me  
In walked ol' misery  
And she's been here since then _

Wait a minute, this wasn't right. Logan looked around suspiciously. This was all wrong. He was Logan Reese and absolutely everything was okay. Of course it was okay he never got attached to girls. Logan Reese was a ladies man and it was past time for him to let the ladies have him back. Actually, it was perfect timing because he spotted a gaggle of hot girls just standing around waiting to be pounced on. And he was Logan Reese, more than ready to pounce.

_Lookin' for some hot stuff baby this evenin'  
I need some hot stuff baby tonight  
I want some hot stuff baby this evenin'  
Gotta have some hot stuff  
Gotta have some love tonight_

Yeah, for Logan Reese this was much more appropriate. It was hunting time, and business as usual, nothing was different.

* * *

As Dana was about to start watching the third hour of the _Friends_ marathon, Hank finally called.

"Hey Hank, what's going on?" Dana greeted.

Hank hesitated a second but replied, "Well, I think I might have gotten Shane a bit angry. See, I told him that you were needed by a faculty member so, as per PCA tradition, visitors were supposed to be given tours of the campus and that's why I was there since you were occupied and couldn't do it."

"Okay," Dana said following. It was a much more detailed reason than she was expecting Hank to come up with, but it worked.

Hank continued, "So I've been showing him around and you know I walked slow and took lots of time through everything. Then I ran out of places so I took him with me to see Wendy since she had been calling me. I pulled her aside for a second and told her not to say anything about you and me or you and Logan and you can trust her, don't worry. But I think he's finding Wendy really irritating and it's really starting to bug me now because I thought he was a cool guy and I did like him, but he's starting to get kind of rude to my girlfriend."

"He's getting kind of pissed off?" Dana asked cheerily.

"Do you want him that way?" Hank inquired since Dana's tone clearly said she was happy about it.

"Yes, the angrier the better," Dana replied immediately and explained, "I'm trying to get him to break up with me, without doing something to directly make him break up with me. You know, I'm not telling him about you or Logan because then he's kind of forced into it and it needs to be his decision."

"Okay," Hank said even though he didn't really get it. He offered, "Well, he's not that mad yet, but I could keep him a while longer and he probably will be."

"That would be great. Thank you so much," Dana replied gratefully. She added, "And if he really irritates you about Wendy then feel free to not hold back. If you feel like hitting him then go ahead and do it, I don't care."

"It's not that bad," Hank assured, "besides I've noticed he isn't the only one that doesn't enjoy Wendy stories. I don't get it, I like them, but then I also like her so I guess I'm bias."

Dana smiled because Hank was a really nice guy, and Wendy was lucky. She concluded, "Well good luck, and thanks again."

"No problem," Hank replied selflessly and hung up to return to his helpful task.

Meanwhile Dana returned to the silence that re-runs of _Friends_ offered.

* * *

Michael returned to his room almost two hours after leaving Chase there alone with his thoughts and when he returned Chase was in the exact same spot. Sitting on the couch with the television and stereo off staring into space, he was clearly somewhere else.

Michael disrupted Chase from his thoughts, "So what are you going to do?"

Chase shrugged. He had been thinking about what Michael and Lola said. It made sense, just as much sense as what he had decided the incident meant, but maybe he just wanted it to be as possible as the conclusion he had come to because then he still got to love Zoey.

Michael sighed and sat himself in the chair across from Chase. He figured the shrug meant that he hadn't made his mind up about it so Michael commented, "If you decide that fate was telling you that you aren't supposed to be more than friends with Zoey, would you stop loving her? Just because you think fate has told you to move on and you date another girl, do you think you'll love her less? Because you've loved Zoey for over two years and I don't think that's changing."

Chase didn't say anything still, but for the first time he moved. He looked to Michael, paused, looked at the door, got up, and left. He knew what he believed in now and there was no point sitting on the couch when he knew.

Michael wasn't sure what happened. After a minute he got up and tried to follow after Chase to determine whether what happened was good or bad, but he couldn't find him. He had a feeling though that telling Lola that he lost Chase was not going to be a good conversation.

* * *

Logan strutted away from five pretty girls with five phone numbers. It was really too easy, all he had to do was smirk and say hi and they were practically begging him to call them.

Logan was heading away from the girls and crossing in front of the movie theater when Lola finally found him. She had a plan, she wasn't entirely sure that it would work at all and she definitely wasn't at all thrilled to do it. But she wasn't very patient so she didn't want to just wait and see how things played out. She wanted to get results and she wanted them now.

Lola walked right up to Logan and before he could even say hello she kissed him. It lasted maybe one second because she didn't actually want to do it, she just wanted the results she hoped it would bring.

It was far too short for Logan to react, but when it was over and she was standing in front of him it didn't take him long to be himself, "So you must have heard about my arrangement with your roommate and you'd like a similar position. The more the merrier so okay, did she tell you the rules or would you like to disband those? I'm defiantly for getting rid of any rules."

He was smirking and he seemed unaffected, but he wasn't really Lola's aim so she wasn't that discouraged. She smiled to his smirk and replied to irritate him, "Nah, actually, no thanks. It wasn't good enough."

"Of course it was, it was with me. But fine, you did catch me by surprise so come on lets have a do over," Logan said trying to save his precious reputation.

"No," Lola replied simply. She waited, but he didn't say anything. After a couple of beats of silence she finally caved and asked, "You aren't even going to ask about her? About what she's been doing?"

"About who?" Logan countered playing dumb very well.

"Fine, have it your way," Lola resigned. If he was going to be difficult then she was going to move on with her plan which was for Dana anyway.

"Everything is always my way," Logan said cockily.

But Lola, she was determined to leave an impression so she responded, "Yeah, yesterday I would have thought that was true. But today, it's just not anymore. I guess you'll have to change that." With that Lola left because she wanted him to think about it. She thought that there was something that he wasn't getting his way with today and she was hoping that since she had pointed it out that maybe he would fight for it. Of course this all depended on whether or not he actually cared.

Logan decided to head back to his room. He got five numbers so girl hunting was good today and it could be over for now.

* * *

Nicole had returned to Dana to fill her in on Zoey. She had told her that Zoey wasn't letting on about anything, but something definitely seemed up.

"So she's not okay?" Dana checked.

"No I don't think so. She didn't seem to want to talk about it though and then I got distracted," Nicole added this time for she hadn't mentioned the entire situation when she told Dana the first time.

"What's his name?" Dana asked knowing her friend well.

"John Ely," Nicole squealed out.

"Ah," Dana said understanding how he was a distraction.

"But I lost him," Nicole said gloomily. She explained, "One minute he was there and smiling at me and the next he just disappeared." She paused for a minute and then got up as she said, "Actually, I think I'll go look for him. Maybe he's hanging out somewhere around campus and I can just happen to run into him and he can smile at me again and then this time it can actually turn into something more."

"Good luck," Dana yelled as Nicole exited and Lola entered.

"Took your advice," Lola began as she tossed her keys on her desk.

"About?" Dana inquired still trying to watch the marathon on the TV.

Lola walked over to the coffee table, grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. Before Dana could complain, Lola answered, "I gave kissing Logan a try."

"So, that's not a reason to turn off _Friends_," Dana complained playing it like it didn't matter.

Lola ignored her comment and continued on her mission, "It was just alright though. There weren't any sparks. And I don't understand how you could keep something up with a guy when there isn't a spark."

Oh damn. She had spent the entire day drowning out thoughts, so carefully trying to control everything she let slip from her mouth that Dana confessed something without meaning to. "No it wasn't sparks, it was more like a freaking fire," she said slightly caught up in the memory of it, of him.

That was better than Lola was hoping for. She was absolutely thrilled that her second of torture was really paying off. She asked, "You have a fire, not sparks and you still think it means nothing?"

"It means I'm attracted to him," Dana conceded but reasoned, "but he's hot so that's understandable. And attraction doesn't mean anything."

"What if it did? Why would that be so bad?" Lola questioned because she really didn't get it. Sure it was Logan and he was vain and cocky and kind of slutty, but if he made her happy then what was so wrong about it?

Dana felt like all she had been doing was repeating the same thing all day. She said it again, "Because it's Logan and it didn't mean anything so why are we still talking about this?"

Dana was saved from Lola continuing by a knock on the door followed by Shane poking his head in slowly since he wasn't positive it was the right room.

"Hey," he said entering and shutting the door behind him. "It has been such a long day, but completely worth it since I get to see you," he said sweetly as he crossed the room to her.

Crap. He wasn't angry. Dana's eyes shot down to the floor, avoiding him. She needed to come up with something. She didn't know what she was going to do, not break up with him of course, but she decided they needed some privacy. Still not looking to him, but to Lola she asked, "Can you give us a little bit?"

"Yeah," Lola immediately responded understanding Dana's meaning and she grabbed her keys and left to find Michael.

* * *

Logan returned to his room and barely a minute later there was someone knocking on his door. He hoped it wasn't Lola with some new attempt. He opened it to find Hank.

"What's up Logan?" Hank greeted as he brushed past Logan inviting himself in and making himself comfortable on the couch.

This wasn't really unusual. Hank and him were friends and he would usually invite himself in and help himself to anything in the room so Logan didn't think anything of it. He shut the door and answered, "Not much. I just got back from getting some phone numbers. What about you?"

"I spent the day with Dana's boyfriend," Hank revealed and paused to gauge Logan's reaction. As Logan sat down in the chair across from Hank he looked confused, but then that made complete sense and really didn't let on about anything. So Hank continued, "Yeah he's a cool guy. He's a drummer. He's really laid back. But Dana doesn't seem to like him very much. She wanted me to get him angry so he might dump her."

"Has he met her? Cause that should have sent him running already," Logan commented resorting to old habits.

"It didn't send you running," Hank quickly retorted. He could see that Logan was wondering how he knew that. And actually Dana had never really told him what was going on with her and Logan so he was kind of guessing. But just because he didn't know the details, didn't mean he didn't notice things. Hank supplied his other proof besides Dana's brief statements, "You left the dance with her. And you didn't tell me about her so don't try and deny that you like her because you're a sucky liar."

"I'm a great liar," Logan defended.

"Not when it comes to her," Hank countered.

"There's nothing going on with her. I don't like her and that's not lying, it's the truth," Logan said and he thought it was true. Well, actually, if he didn't think about it then it remained true, but that left him ignoring a lot.

"Yeah whatever," Hank said doubtfully as his phone started to vibrate. He pulled it out and found he had received a text message. He stood up and said, "I've got to go, Wendy's waiting." He called over his shoulder as he left, "Good luck with that denial."

Logan was tired of having to endure everyone and their questions and their comments, but at least now it was quiet. Actually, it was too quiet and his thoughts, those that he been trying to ignore for so long, could be heard. Loudly, clearly, they flooded his head. Damn, he was in trouble now.

* * *

Michael had lost Chase just like Nicole had lost Zoey because no one except them knew exactly where their secret spot was. When Chase arrived at their lakeside spot he found Zoey already their. He had gone to their spot because Michael was right. It really didn't matter if fate was telling him to give up on Zoey because he was never going to stop loving her.

"Hey," Chase greeted as he took as seat on the grass beside Zoey. He commented, "Weird day, huh?"

"Yeah," she agreed, but added with a slight edge to her voice, "but not really for you." Zoey had been thinking about them a lot that day too, but her conclusions were not as hopeful as Chase's.

"What?" Chase asked confused.

"You already knew," she replied keeping her gaze firmly on the lake in front of them and not on him.

He leaned forward, trying to get her to meet his eyes so he could figure this out easier. He figured honesty was best so he said, "Yeah, I couldn't tell though. Remember the whole I knew a secret about Logan thing? It wasn't something I could repeat. Are you mad at me or something?"

Zoey's head snapped in his direction at that and her eyes let him know that yep, she was pissed. But she couldn't stand looking at him and knowing that this was actually happening. That they actually had to go through this again when she had tried to ignore it so much the first time. She got up and walked away, yelling in response, "Yeah Chase, I'm angry. I can't believe you. Of course I remember you having some sort of thing you were lording over Logan, but I thought it was something like he talks in his sleep about…I don't know something embarrassing. Or he knows the words to every Faith Hill song or something, but not something this important." She turned around knowing that Chase was following her and yelled walking towards him now, "And it's something important and you couldn't even tell me? This is big and this involves my friend too. And you said, you said that if you could tell me you would tell me. What did you not trust me? Did you think I'd tell? Because this is something that you could have told me. But you kept it hidden because they threatened you. What did they threaten you with?"

This was bad. Zoey was absolutely enraged, and worse she was right and everything was quickly looking very bad for him. Chase lied even though he knew it was a weak one, but he was desperate, he didn't want to fight with her, "It was Logan and Dana what do you think they threatened me with?"

Her arms flailing wildly, her face contorted in fury, Zoey was only more sure of her anger by his newest comment, "Jesus Chase how stupid do you think I am? You know neither one of them would actually hurt you no matter how much they threaten or talk about it. They would threaten violence but you would never take it seriously. Just stop lying!"

"I can't tell you!" Chase retorted, yelling just so she would hear.

"Just like you couldn't tell me about the tekmate and what was in the message you didn't want me to get. You know Chase for someone who told me just yesterday that you don't have a lot of secrets from me there sure seems to be a lot about you I don't know," Zoey said turning away from him again to will the tears threatening to fall to stop. She continued quieter, "I tried to forget about it. You said you'd tell me and then we got interrupted so I thought you'd just tell me later, but you never did. And I tried to ignore it, but I'm supposedly your best friend and you hide things from me that are clearly important to you. You don't even trust me. You lie to me probably more than I know."

"I-" Chase was about to say "I don't" but he stopped himself because she was right and if he claimed otherwise she would just be more convinced that he lied to her. But here they were in this situation again. She wanted to know what he was lying about, but once again, just like the tekmate situation, if he told her he'd be telling her to end a fight. And Michael had made a point earlier; this was not the sort of thing that he should just say casually to end a fight. It already had more meaning than that. He said simply and honestly, "I'm sorry."

Zoey turned back around to face Chase. She wanted to be able to ignore all of this; she had been trying so hard to since the tekmate incident. But today and the reminder of lies and secrets and she just couldn't handle it anymore. She couldn't pretend everything was okay when everything was so far from okay. She said sorrowfully, "I'm sorry isn't enough Chase. I'm sorry is for when you accidentally step on my toe or something. But you keep lying to me because you don't trust me. And I can't trust you because you keep lying to me. I kept telling myself that we were best friends, but clearly I was just fooling myself because friends don't treat each other this way."

"Zoey please tell me how I can fix this," Chase plead as if he was pleading for his life because to him he was. His life without Zoey in it in any way was not something he wanted to live, not at all.

"I don't know if you can fix this," Zoey said honestly and rushed away because the tears threatening to fall weren't waiting anymore and she didn't want him or anyone to see. She wiped at her tears hurriedly as she walked away from Chase quickly, hoping that even if he followed she could keep him at a distance because she couldn't handle seeing him anymore. Seeing him was just a reminder of everything they didn't have.

_It's the bitter taste of losing everything  
That I've held so dear._

Chase wanted to go after her, but he didn't know what to say if he did. He couldn't tell her the truth. The moment wasn't right. He couldn't just tell her because he was sorry. And he couldn't lie to her again, he always hated lying to her. So he was left standing where she had left him not knowing what to do.

_I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...

* * *

_

Nicole had been looking for John Ely for quite some time, but though she had covered half of campus she still hadn't found him. She could have been through more of campus, but when she dropped by the movie theater to look for him she accidentally got distracted by someone who she thought was him, and turned out to be a girl, which freaked her out a bit and she ended up stumbling into some mud. And of course she wasn't going to walk around with muddy shoes on, especially when she was seeking out a guy. So she went back to her room and changed her shoes, but then they didn't really match her outfit so she changed that too. What she didn't know was that whether she had actually made it to all the hang out spots of campus or not it didn't actually matter because John Ely wasn't at any of them. He was in his room wondering what the next week of Tiffany being terrible would bring. He didn't really know Nicole, but he liked what he knew and he was interested in her. But Tiffany's threat was going too far and she was going to win, he knew it. And Nicole kept wandering around looking for him not knowing that Tiffany had already decided their fate. So unknowingly searching for someone she wasn't going to find, Nicole decided to head up to the front of campus to continue her pursuit.

* * *

Michael was still going to have to tell Lola that he lost Chase, but since he had lost Chase he came up with worse things to inform her of.

They met back at the cafeteria and Lola immediately told him everything that happened. She was excited about it, she thought progress had been made even if it did cost her some discomfort, which kind of grossed out Michael when he heard about it. Then again, her determination was one of the things he liked about Lola.

Once Lola was finished telling Michael what she had been up to, she asked, "So what's going on with Chase?"

"Okay well I have good news and bad news," Michael began. He explained, "See first I lost Chase. When I got back he was sitting in the same spot on the couch, he hadn't made up his mind, and I said something to help him decide on Zoey. Then he didn't say anything and he got up and left and I tried to follow but I lost him. The good news is that I found him, he was by the lake." Michael paused, the next part was the bad news and he really didn't want to see Lola disappointed.

Lola caught on and said, "Wait, that was first news and good news. What happened to the bad news?"

Michael still hesitated, but replied, "When I found Chase he was with Zoey and they were fighting. It looked really bad. I didn't want them to know that I was there so I couldn't get close enough to hear what it was about." At that came the face he didn't want to see. She looked so discouraged. He decided getting involved with their friends' lives was bring them down too much, they needed a break, "It's Chase and Zoey though so I'm sure they'll be fine. I'll just take you to a movie and by the time it's done I'm sure Chase and Zoey will be best friends as usual."

"Did you just ask me out?" Lola questioned feeling better already.

"Yep," Michael confirmed.

"Very smooth," Lola complimented. She gladly accepted deciding to concentrate on her own life and not other peoples, "So what are we going to see?"

"I thought you could decide that this time," Michael said clearly implying that he meant for this to happen again as they started strolling towards the front of campus to get to the movie theater.

* * *

Dana had been walking around campus for a while. Her conversation with Shane was surprisingly brief. In fact, she didn't expect the way it went at all. As soon as Lola left she looked up and met Shane's eyes and words just started spewing out of her mouth. Everything she said was true, she accepted that. What she couldn't accept was any of her possible reasons for saying anything she did.

But she didn't want to think about that anymore that's why she was walking. She told herself that she was just avoiding. But with every click, clunk, click that her suede knee high boots made against the pavement they were only saying one thing. She may not have known where she was heading, but her feet were defiantly taking every step with a clear purpose, seeking out a particular direction, a certain person.

Dana's feet stopped taking steps at the front of campus because they found who they were seeking out. Logan had also just been wandering. He had been thinking, but nothing was different. Just because he had decided some things didn't mean anything was different. After not seeing each other since everything began there that morning, and after both of them doing a lot of thinking throughout the day they were both determined to think that nothing had changed, though they knew that certain things had been done and said.

"Whoa, weird," Logan said as they continued walking toward each other until there was only a foot between them, "this must be like the place today."

Dana smiled relieved that seeing him wasn't incredibly awkward, "Yeah, I would say it's serendipitous, but I don't want to have to explain its meaning to you."

"Good one. So where's your boyfriend at? Did he get tired of all of your wise cracks?" Logan questioned and still attempted to return the playful and typical insult.

"Must have since I don't know where he is," Dana said lying slightly. She had some pretty good guesses as to where he could be, but she didn't actually know his specific location at the moment.

"What you lost him? You know you're kind of horrible at the whole girlfriend thing," Logan said in the usual playful insult that they always did, but there was definitely subtext this time.

And Dana caught it. Yes, he was just joking, but he was also broaching the subject. She had been thinking about it and she knew what he said about it before, but she wasn't taking it back. She said hiding her nervousness about how he could react the best she could, "Probably. Sorry about that though." She said it again and she knew what he had said, but that didn't have to mean that it was…something. She compensated a bit, "I know we don't…but I knew about Wendy, you knew about Hank and you should have known about Shane too. You know common courtesy and all…" she trailed off.

He had been wondering about that. In the moment he didn't know if it was…real. Thinking about it he didn't know if he wanted it to be real. But then she said it again, showing him she meant it, and he was relieved because it made everything he was trying not to think easier. Logan kept his reply in step with his normal personality saying jokingly, "Yeah and you thought I'd be the one to break the rules."

"You did break plenty of rules," Dana reminded with a smirk. Sure she created the rules for a reason, but she ended up completely not caring about all the rules that were broken. Logan smirked bigger, as if he was proud of himself for his accomplishment in rule breaking. But Logan didn't retort and there was silence so Dana decided it wasn't weird yet so maybe she should just leave to avoid any awkwardness. She checked, "So, we're alright, right?"

"Well I'm great of course, but you've always seemed off balance to me," Logan remarked getting back to that typical playful insulting that also let her know that they were okay.

"Said the guy who only has pictures of himself in his wallet," Dana countered as she took a step backwards preparing to leave. She turned around and continued stepping away as she ended the conversation, "I'll see you."

"Hey," Logan yelled to her despite the fact that she wasn't actually that far away. Dana stopped and turned around and Logan quickly walked over to her, stopping this time with less than half a foot between them. He decided to go for it and he told himself that the only reason he was, was because he felt like it. He told himself it wasn't going to mean anything, but he still couldn't help taking the leap and saying, "What about my goodbye kiss?"

_Oh thank God_, Dana thought. She couldn't seem to bring herself to take the same chance that he did, but God did she want to. She smiled slightly before inching closer, placing her hand on his chest, and she leaned up to kiss him. Logan didn't hesitate to kiss her back, glad that he didn't leap for nothing immediately thinking as soon as she kissed him, _oh thank God_.

They were making out even though they were in public, but it didn't matter anymore. It hadn't even been an entire day since they were last together, but they missed it. Maybe they didn't miss each other yet, but they missed what they had and it was a beginning.

Nicole, who had headed to the front of the campus to look for John Ely, was surprised to find Dana and Logan together, making out.

Shane was suddenly by her side, the same bag slung over his shoulder that he had been carrying that morning.

_Mmmm what d'ya say,  
Mmmm that you only meant well?  
well of course you did_

Nicole tried to cover for her friend, "Oh, that's not anything. Trust me Dana does not like him, it's really just nothing."

_Mmmm what d'ya say,  
Mmmm that's all for the best?  
of course it_ is

Shane scoffed and replied bitterly, "Yeah, she told me it was nothing too, right before she broke up with me."

_Mmmm what d'ya say?  
Mmmm that it's just what we need  
you decided this_

Last time Nicole had spoken with Dana, which really wasn't that long ago, there was no way Dana was breaking up with Shane. She had said she just couldn't do it. She couldn't break his heart again.

_Mmmm what d'ya say?_

The sudden change of everything she thought she knew actually left Nicole speechless, a very rare occurrence for her. And Shane's next comment only pushed her further into her confused thoughts. He said resentfully, "It sure doesn't look like nothing."

_Mmmm what did she say?_

And he was right. Dana's arms were now tightly wrapped around Logan's torso and his hands were gently cupping her face. It was so tender and it seemed so intimate. A crowd had even seemed to gather loosely around them because this was definitely not something they saw every day. It was Logan Reese with Dana Cruz, it was so unexpected and it absolutely didn't seem like nothing.

_Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth  
Midsweet talk, newspaper word cut outs  
Speak no feeling_

Their friends' very public moment had also stopped Lola and Michael on their way to the movies making them just two more people in the growing crowd. Like everyone else they didn't understand what this was. Weren't Dana and Logan both talking like it was over? And didn't they diligently maintain that it was nothing?

_No I don't believe you  
You don't care a bit,  
You don't care a bit_

Zoey passed by the display as well on the way back to her room, but she wasn't asking herself the same questions as her confused friends because she didn't notice it. Tears stinging at her eyes she hurriedly made her way behind the crowd. And none of the backs of the people facing her turned around and noticed her breaking sight.

_(Hide and seek)  
Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth  
Midsweet talk, newspaper word cut outs_

Chase was ten steps behind her. He glanced at the stare worthy scene, but Zoey was the only thing on his mind. Though he was following her he didn't actually have any intention of approaching her. He didn't know how to fix them and he didn't want to say the wrong thing and upset her more. He was following her and he knew he would stop when she got to her building, but he followed anyway because he just couldn't seem to help himself. It was Zoey, and he couldn't resist the desire to be near her even when everything was falling apart.

_(Hide and seek)  
Speak no feeling  
No, I don't believe you  
You don't care a bit,  
You don't care a bit_

Dana and Logan continued their display, not knowing and not caring that it had become a display. For them everything that the day had been didn't matter anymore, being together made it all go away.

_(Hide and seek)  
Oh no, you don't care a bit  
Oh no, you don't care a bit_

The day after the dance had been filled with lies and secrets. For most of the gang all of the lies and secrets just made figuring out what was real even more confusing. For Chase and Zoey the continuing of lying about secrets had taken a great toll on their friendship. It had fractured their friendship so deeply that the possibility of healing was uncertain. And for Dana and Logan the revealing of secrets had forced them into making decisions. It was always impulse before. It was always in the moment. But he decided to ask for that kiss and see if she would go back to before the dance. And she decided to kiss him knowing everything that it meant. But both Dana and Logan were still lying to themselves. They were both telling themselves that it didn't mean anything. But the actions that their decisions caused made nothing officially just another lie. It seemed that the gang was going to remain deeply entangled in their webs of lies and secrets.

_(Hide and seek)  
Oh no, you don't care a bit  
You don't care a bit  
You don't care a bit

* * *

_

**A/N: Direction Notes: **At the end with Dana and Logan making out and their friends mixed in with the crowd, I'd zoom out on the entire situation from a more aerial angle. Not like having the camera at a ninety degree angle to the ground, but more like a fifty five degree angle to the ground. Showing the expansion, the hugeness of the situation, keeping Dana and Logan in the center and distracting from them somewhat the practically running Zoey and slower Chase only feet behind her. I don't know why I really see it that way, but I just think it's better than going from person to person and it just shows something…more.

**Reader involvement again: **The chapter after next is going to be a Christmas chapter/episode. I am going to try to have it out by Christmas, but seeing that I tend to be a very busy person and to get it done by then I'd be writing somewhere over sixty pages in the next week along with everything else I have to do to prepare for the holidays, I can't make any promises. But if it's not out by Christmas, it will be out by New Years for sure. Now where I need your help is in Chase's gift for Zoey. Their friendship is in a delicate state right now. And if you're thinking that Zoey's outburst was out of character, well should it be? If someone as important to you as Chase is to Zoey, was clearly hiding things from you and lying to you when you trust them with anything, wouldn't you eventually just break down? It was time for Zoey's break down. Now other things will happen between them in the next chapter, but I'm not revealing what. But the Christmas gift needs to represent that Chase knows Zoey and that he cares about her a great deal. Absolutely do not suggest jewelry. Jewelry is a safe bet gift when buying for a girl, it's usually not thoughtful or personal, it's just pretty. And though like many girls I do enjoy shiny pretty things, this gift needs to mean more than that. So unless you can give a piece of jewelry the same significance that the pendant had for Rachel when Ross gave it to her in _Friends,_ then please do not suggest it. And yes, your suggestion should have meaning to be considered (whether you get it from the story, the show, or you make it up yourself). Obviously the reward for having the best idea is that your idea gets used and you will get recognition and thanks for your contribution. I would greatly appreciate your help so please think about it and let me know what you come up with.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about that comment in my author's notes a couple of chapters back where I said: Damn NBC and that statement would be made clear at the end of this chapter. Well that statement was in reference to how NBC used the song "Hide and Seek" in a promotional commercial for_ Heros_ and completely butchered it up. I hate it when songs get cut up like that, like "You're So Damn Hot" is in that new Payless Shoes commercial.

**About the future of this story:** I know it's seemed romantically centered lately, but characters will get into things besides romance very soon. Like I've said, I have the entire story planned out and there is a process of how things need to develop. So at certain times certain story lines will seem like they're dominating, but the other's will still always be there and they will rotate into focus, you just have to be patient and wait for your favorite to move into focus. That being said, lets continue to what the foci will be for the next chapter.

**Next Chapter/ Episode:** I've actually been changing the title for a while and I'm not actually sure what I'm going with at the moment, so you'll have to wait to find out that one. Obviously the next chapter is going to include a significant amount of the story line focusing on Zoey and Chase. Zoey's actually going to encounter more problems than just Chase, because people aren't perfect and they don't like watching a show about someone who doesn't seem to make mistakes (at least that's the response I've gathered from most people who continue to watch the show and their diligence to the "perfect" Zoey premise). Now don't think I'm turning this totally dramatic on you, but Chase and Zoey are in a serious situation so they won't offer much comedic lightness next chapter. Along the un-romantic storyline front, will be Nicole, because as Tiffany said, "keep watching" which will mean many things for Nicole and the other cheerleaders who will be reappearing. Now in case you were thinking that Tiffany was your typical mean girl, she's not, she has motivation for her actions, it's not so random for her and it will come out. Lola and Michael will take on a new pop culture craze and we will also finally find out what is in Quinn's red notebook. Of course I'm not forget the pair that you already know is one of my favorite, but they've been in the focus lately so though they will continue to develop, they're going to fade from focus just a tad. I know there's a lot of DL fans reading and so to entice you to keep reading you should know that Christmas will be…something for them as well, but it won't be nearly as big as new years for them. Actually, after Christmas will start something seemingly small for Chase and Zoey at first glance, but it will end up being rather large. So all you DL and CZ fans, you definitely have things to look forward to in the new year.

Okay, I'm going to stop rambling for good now. Thank you again for all of your support. It really motivates me to write even when there are so many other things I should be doing. So, **PLEASE REVIEW **and let me know if you're interested in finding out what's going to happen, with everyone.

**I really hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Oh, and **there were many hints to why it wasn't nothing anymore for Dana and Logan. Many things besides what I directly said. There were big things, small things, nothing has been pointless. So you are welcome to give figuring them out a try, if you'd like

**Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it enough to want to read more. **

**-Simply Sarah**


	8. 7:Like Lloyd and Diane

**A/N: I am so incredibly sorry that it took me almost seven months to get this updated. School kept me insanely busy and well, I need to graduate and I need to get into graduate school, so this had to become a low priority (like sleeping and eating).** I've been out of school three weeks and I hurried to finish the last thirty or so pages so I could update. Yes, I said last thirty pages and they're not preceded by one or ten, but twenty pages. I know, just over a fifty one page chapter (over 24,000 words excluding authors notes) takes forever to read (and write), but there's a place where every chapter of this story needs to begin and end so that the story has the right pacing and can end at the right time.

**So, I'm going to let all of you get to reading (and I'll have another note at the bottom). Feel free to break up reading this over days, but I hope you do manage to get through it. I think the end is definitely worth it. **

**Music:** "We Might As Well Be Strangers" by Keane, "Tell Her This" by Del Amitri, and "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure.

* * *

"For the last time nothing has changed," Dana said for what felt like the millionth time. It was Monday morning and the gang was at breakfast, well most of the gang was there, Zoey wasn't. Dana continued defending, "I don't like Logan. Logan doesn't like me. We are not together. But since Shane caught sight of our extra curricular activity and left because I guess he wasn't okay with it, our fun might as well continue. Still, nothing has changed." 

The gang exchanged skeptical glances, but it was Lola who spoke up first, "Then why are you sitting next to each other? You never do that."

"Because you guys sat on the other sides of us forcing us together," Dana replied easily.

Nicole continued the skeptical questioning, "Why are you speaking for him? That seems really couple-y."

"Becca Royce is over there in a tube top, he hasn't been listening to anything," Dana answered simply and accurately as everyone but Chase followed her gesturing hand to see Becca Royce in a tube top that was not at all appropriate for November.

Chase hadn't looked because he wasn't really paying very close attention to the conversation. He was there, he was hearing it, but wondering about Zoey and how he could possibly fix things with her consumed his thoughts. That was until he caught sight of something that made him join in. Chase asked uncomfortably, "Umm…Dana, if you guys aren't anything then why is Logan's hand on your thigh?" Chase could see this since he was sitting on the other side of Logan.

Dana seemed confused at the question. She looked down and noticed that Chase was right and she hadn't noticed that Logan's hand was indeed there on her thigh. "What the hell?" she yelled catching Logan's attention.

He seemed to snap back to being at the table and asked having no idea what was going on, "What?"

"Your hand," Dana replied as if the problem with it should be obvious.

But Logan wasn't getting it. So what if his hand was technically in an area that she called off limits, it's not like she noticed until now. He repeated, "What?"

"Move it," Dana ordered firmly and trying to remain calm. Logan did move his hand and it prompted Dana to add angrily no longer able to control her temper, "Not around! Get your hands off of me! You know the rules and you're breaking one."

"It's not like you noticed," Logan yelled back.

Dana roughly removed Logan's hand for him as she angrily retorted, "That doesn't make it okay. You know the rules and you're still breaking them and for that you have to be punished and you know-"

"Oh don't you dare try to hit or kick me because I swear I'm so tired of this that I'll hit back," Logan warned getting in her face even more.

"Bring it on pretty boy," Dana dared.

They were still for a second just staring at each other, both still fuming waiting for the other to make the first move. But it seemed like they moved at the same time, lunging toward each other and locking in a wrestle. They went tumbling back in their chairs continuing to struggle for control over the other as they kept insulting each other.

This was much more like the behavior that usually occurred between the pair so it actually relaxed the gang and they knew better than to try and break it up.

With the need for pestering Dana and Logan with questions about their recent activities momentarily quelled, Chase asked the question he had been wondering since they sat down to breakfast fifteen minutes ago, "What did Zoey say? Um…about not coming."

"She didn't say anything," Nicole began and explained, "I went across the hall to see if they were ready to come down and when I went back to our room seconds later to grab my stuff Zoey had slipped out." Nicole had gestured to Lola and Dana for "they" and had finished regretfully. Chase had told Michael what had happened and news of his and Zoey's fight had spread throughout the group. They all understood how horrible this fight was and how hopeless fixing the broken friendship seemed.

The group sat in silence eating their breakfast and desperately trying to find something to say to give Chase some kind of hope. But he had already made it clear that he wasn't going to tell Zoey he loved her to end a fight or while she was so mad at him. And Michael had clearly relayed that stance to everyone so they didn't bother suggesting it. The problem was they understood why Zoey was hurt and angry. Chase had been lying to Zoey. It was something big; it was something that his best friend should know. And what was worse was that he kept lying about it even when it had become so clear that he wasn't telling the truth. And Zoey had trusted him with anything and everything, but that wasn't the way he was treating her.

But everyone understood that Chase was just doing what he thought was right. It had been almost two and a half years and since he still hadn't told her he clearly wasn't ready for Zoey to know that he was in love with her. He wasn't ready to risk their friendship for the possibility that they could have something more. Because it was Chase's greatest wish that he could have something more with Zoey, that she could return his feelings. But he didn't really think it was actually possible. He didn't think she would ever love him. So he couldn't tell her he loved her because he didn't want to lose her. The problem was that right now Zoey needed him to be completely honest and that meant he would have to tell her. So as he saw it, if he told her or not, right now he was losing Zoey. And breakfast was eaten in silence because no one knew how to stop it.

Or at least breakfast was eaten in silence until Nicole said, "Hey its quiet." This was actually a valid statement since for the proceeding minutes of not talking there had been noise. There had been the sounds of Dana and Logan. Both insulting each other and both letting out occasional "ow's" as they continued to fight on the ground behind the table.

Lola (who had been sitting by Dana) and Michael (who was next to Lola) both peered over the once again upright chairs that their fighting friends had occupied to find them not fighting, but making out.

"Ew," Lola and Michael said together prompting Chase, Nicole and Quinn (who had been very absorbed in her red notebook) to also glance over at the pair and let out the same grossed out sentiment.

Logan sprang up first quickly followed by Dana whose hair was slightly flattened in the back. They looked almost bashful for a second, but then Logan glanced at Dana and jerked his head. She smiled and said, "See you guys in class." Carelessly leaving their trays and most of their food, Logan and Dana hurried off to the nearest secluded place.

Breakfast seemed unusually long that morning. Chase was going to see Zoey in homeroom, it was inescapable. There was no way she was going to miss class to avoid him. To make things more awkward they sat right across the aisle from each other. Three feet, they would have tree feet between them. Chase didn't know what he was going to do. He hated this. Zoey clearly wasn't speaking to him and didn't want him speaking to her (she didn't answer his calls to her cell). No matter what he thought of to do or say Chase didn't see the outcome as being any different. No matter what he was going to lose Zoey. He had called her still because he had to try. He didn't know what he would say if she would listen, but he wasn't ready to lose her so he had kept calling and his calls kept going unanswered. And she would be three feet away from him, she would have to hear him, but he didn't have anything to say to make things better and by his friends silence he knew that they didn't know anything either. He was in an impossible situation and he knew it was his fault he was there. He was the one who lied and lied badly. He hurt her even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. But right now he wasn't blaming himself, he was blaming love. Love made him scared, love made him lie, love made him hurt Zoey. If only his love for her could save him, but then he didn't think that that was possible either.

Chase walked to class with everyone in silence. Would she be there first? Would she come in after him? Would she glance at him? Would she forgive him if he said he was sorry again? Would it be as painful to see her so heartbroken today as it had been yesterday?

They got to the door of Mr. Bender's classroom and Chase paused. His friends preceded forward, Michael holding the door open as all of the girls filed into the classroom. Chase took the door from Michael and Michael went into the classroom after giving Chase a quick supportive pat on the back. Chase took a deep breath and walked into the classroom.

_I don't know your face no more  
Or feel your touch that I adore_

Question one: would Zoey be there first? Answer: yes. Zoey was already there. She was either reading or staring intently at the book they were supposed to be reading for their English class, _All For Love_ by John Dryden.

_I don't know your face no more  
It's just a place I'm looking for_

Since the answer to question one was yes, question two was irrelevant. So question three: Would she glance at him? Chase walked to his seat. He was walking slower than usual, giving her more time to do anything, but he didn't notice. He got to his seat and sat down. Answer: apparently not.

_We might as well be strangers in another town  
We might as well be living in a different world  
We might as well  
We might as well  
We might as well_

It was then that Chase noticed the three feet, the three feet had grown. Zoey wasn't sitting in her usual seat. It was just homeroom and Mr. Bender was cool so they were allowed to move. The fact that she could and would move hadn't occurred to Chase though. Zoey was sitting in Nicole's seat and Nicole was sitting in Zoey's looking at Chase and mouthing sorry. And here he had kept worrying about those three feet and they weren't even there.

_I don't know your thoughts these days  
We're strangers in an empty space_

Question four: Would she forgive him if he said he was sorry again? She had moved further away from him. Chase knew he could have still talked to her and she would have heard, but he couldn't do it, he couldn't say anything. Answer: no, she wouldn't forgive him because how could she? He didn't even forgive himself.

_I don't understand your heart  
It's easier to be apart_

Question five: Would it be as painful to see her so heartbroken today as it had been yesterday? Chase couldn't help himself, he could tell by how ridged she seemed that his frequent glances were making her uncomfortable, but with every glance he noticed something new. Slightly puffy eyes, she had been crying a lot. Her hair was simple and down, so she could hide behind it and use it to ignore him. Her coffee cup was a size larger than she usually bought, she must have needed the extra caffeine because she had trouble sleeping. She hadn't turned a page in her book in five minutes and she was a quick reader, she wasn't able to concentrate. And it was all because of him. Answer: No, today it was worse. Chase had to look away and force himself to pay attention to Mr. Bender as he prepared for class to start, because seeing how much he hurt her killed him even more today.

_We might as well be strangers in another town  
We might as well be living in a another time  
We might as well  
We might as well  
We might as well be strangers  
Be strangers_

Dana and Logan slipped in seconds before the bell rang and once it did Mr. Bender began reading announcements to a very tension filled classroom. It actually made Mr. Bender a little nervous. Chase and Zoey, two of his favorite students, were staring at him so intently, clearly trying to avoid making eye contact with the other. This was the third year they were students of his and if things ever changed between them this was not the way he thought they would change. He took role and hoped that the seat change wouldn't be permanent.

* * *

Zoey didn't say much all morning. It wasn't that she was freezing everyone out, but if she was talking then they would probably be talking about her and Chase and if she was talking about her and Chase then she was thinking about him. And she didn't want to think about him. Thinking about him reminded her of everything she wished didn't happen between them. She wished she could forget about the tekmate and all the lies that it caused Chase to tell her. But she couldn't. She couldn't help thinking that she had trusted him totally and completely, and he didn't trust her. And thinking about the tekmate and everything he wasn't telling her about that made her think about absolutely everything else wondering if maybe there were other times he was lying or holding back. She wished him saying he was sorry made her feel better; she wished it would take everything away, but it didn't work. She wanted them to be fixed, but she didn't know how that could happen. So she desperately tried to avoid thinking about him so she wouldn't feel worse, because most of all thinking about Chase reminded her that she couldn't think of anything that would make them the way they were. 

Being supportive best friends, the girls told Zoey that they would all eat lunch in Dana and Lola's room without the guys and just watch TV or something. None of them wanted to see this happen to Chase and Zoey, but they hoped that if they just tried to help her not feel as hurt they would figure out some way to save them.

Most of the girls were coming from different directions after their fifth period classes to lunch, except Lola and Zoey who had gym together. Dana had the nearest class to her dorm room so she was there first and she was quickly joined by Nicole. Since the previous day, and especially since breakfast, there was something that Nicole had wanted to talk to Dana about in private so she was glad to see that the others weren't also already there.

When Nicole let herself into the room after dropping her things at her room, she found Dana digging around in her mini fridge getting drinks out for everyone. Seeing that everyone would probably be arriving any minute Nicole dove right in, "I talked to Shane yesterday, as he was leaving."

"Do you want diet or regular?" Dana asked holding up one can of each as she avoided the subject.

But Nicole pressed on, "He said you broke up with him."

_No one was supposed to know about that,_ Dana thought as she cursed Shane in her head for apparently being so chatty with Nicole. "Look, Nic, I just…" Dana began, but the door swung open and Lola and Zoey came in. Not wanting them to know anything Dana went back to her previous question since she still had the soda in her hands, "Diet or regular?"

"Diet," Nicole replied and Dana assumed that she could trust Nicole not to bring it up. While Nicole thought she knew what everything meant, everything preceding Shane talking to her contradicted her conclusions so she didn't want to say anything to everyone at least not until she actually knew what was going on.

As Dana tossed Nicole the diet soda and Nicole fumbled with it Lola remarked, "I'll take the regular." Unlike Nicole, Lola caught the soda that was tossed to her.

Zoey didn't usually drink soda so Dana asked, "Zo, water?" Zoey simply nodded and caught her water as she muttered a thanks.

As Dana got her own drink from the fridge and knowingly took out a water for Quinn, the other three girls plopped down on the sofa as Lola turned on the TV and began flipping through channels. They were quiet, even Nicole, because they wanted to give Zoey the chance to talk. But she wasn't talking so Lola decided to get some conversation going, "You're lucky you weren't late this morning Dana. Only about two more seconds and you guys would have been."

"Wait, why were you almost late?" Zoey asked realizing she had missed something and distracting herself from her thoughts in the process.

Lola replied before Dana could because she suspected that Dana wouldn't tell the whole story, "She was with Logan, again."

Now Zoey was more confused. She hadn't noticed them together the previous day despite passing by them and their crowd. She kind of forgot about them all together since her fight with Chase. Her lack of information caused her to ask, "What about Shane?"

Just in case Nicole wasn't actually keeping her mouth shut, Dana immediately answered, "He didn't really like it when he found out that I didn't want our relationship to be exclusive so he left."

"So now you're with Logan?" Zoey asked still not clear on what exactly had happened in the last twenty four hours.

"No," Dana immediately replied, "I'm not with Logan. I don't like Logan. Logan doesn't like me. We are absolutely not together. But Shane's gone, for good, and I'm back to not really having anything better to do. I explained this all at breakfast."

No one said anything. Dana was broaching the topic. Lola and Nicole were surprised; they thought that they had all agreed that they would talk about what happened only if Zoey wanted to. But Dana was tired of defending; she was tired of all of the Logan questions so she said something that she knew would change the conversation.

Zoey didn't say anything though. She didn't know whether or not the girls were going to ask her about Chase, but either way she didn't want to talk about it. But everyone was looking at her like they were expecting her to talk. She said quietly, "I just…couldn't go."

Dana sat down in the chair diagonal to Zoey who sat on the left side of the couch and delved further hoping that it would help find some resolution, "I know. But Zoey, I lied to you too. I didn't tell you or anyone about Shane or Logan. And I'm your best friend too but we're fine. Why isn't everything fine with Chase?"

Dana had a point. She was another best friend of hers who had been lying to her. But it just wasn't the same. Zoey didn't know how to explain it so she just said, "It's not the same."

"We know," Nicole replied for them collectively.

"But why isn't it the same with Chase?" Lola finished for them. Dana had been making another point and Lola and Nicole caught on to it. For a while they had each secretly suspected that Zoey's feelings for Chase may be developing into something more. They didn't really have any concrete proof for it, it was more just a feeling they'd get when they would all hang out. Or just Chase and Zoey would hang out at the football games. Or the way she seemed to talk about him, but sometimes the way she talked about him seemed different, kind of like she had been thinking about him already.

Zoey didn't answer, she didn't have an answer. She knew it was different with Chase, something about it just felt different. It hurt to know that he was lying to her. But she never thought of why. She didn't want to think of why because she didn't want to think about it anymore at all. She didn't want to think about what happened because she still didn't know how to fix what happened. And since Chase seemed to be avoiding her too, he apparently either didn't know how to fix it or he didn't care enough to. And she really didn't want to think about the possibility that he may not care enough about her to want to save their friendship.

Before the girls could try to get a response out of Zoey again, Quinn came in with the food saying, "Okay sushi is here. You guys owe me because I had to talk Kazu into making it even though he wasn't actually open."

As Quinn set the food down on the coffee table Zoey stood up and announced, "Actually I'm not hungry. And Dean Rivers said he wanted to meet with me by the end of lunch so I should get going."

Before anyone could stop her Zoey was out the door. Since their Zoey meeting was over Dana also stood and grabbed her things. She picked up a napkin and loaded it with some of the food as she said, "Well, I've got to go too. I have a…meeting in the library."

Once Dana was out the door Lola commented, "So we were ditched for Dean Rivers and Logan."

"Logan?" Quinn questioned since Dana had said library.

Lola forgot that she and Michael were the only ones that knew about Dana and Logan's secret meeting place, but she was happy to explain, "Yeah, Dana and Logan were able to sneak around for the past month because they had been meeting in the library's basement."

"The library has a basement?" Nicole questioned.

"Yeah they keep extra copies of books and old newspapers and year books down there," Quinn answered as she was familiar with the library.

Digging into the food, Nicole continued to inquire, "How did you know it was where they secretly met?"

"I asked," Lola said simply.

"Do you really think that they're just nothing?" Quinn asked curiously.

Nicole and Lola both responded exactly the same. They both took large bites of sushi and shrugged non-comitial.

"That's what I was thinking," Quinn said knowing that her own response would have been to not give away anything.

Looking at the other two skeptically Lola asked what they were all thinking about the other two, "Do you know something?"

"Do you?" Nicole returned the question to both Lola and Quinn.

Lola didn't know if what she knew actually meant anything and neither did Quinn or Nicole. None of them wanted to jump to conclusions and start trouble for their friend so they didn't think that they should say anything. But they were oh so tempted to say something because maybe sharing information would provide some answers.

Lola said what they were all thinking first, "I might, I don't know. I need to talk to Dana."

"Yeah, I need to talk to Dana too to know if I know something," Nicole agreed.

"I just need more time," Quinn said cryptically.

But the sharing was so tempting so Nicole suggested, "But maybe we know stuff that could help each other out. What if we all just said like one word associated with what we know. If it's the same thing then maybe we could help each other out."

"Okay," Lola agreed.

"Yeah alright," Quinn also complied.

"Alright I'll go first," Nicole said and thought about it for a second before she said, "Ended."

With only one word to say and trying not to give too much away (as Nicole had also clearly done), Lola decided to go with, "Fire."

"Data," Quinn said copying the same method as Nicole and Lola.

They exchanged skeptical glances at each other wondering what the words said could possibly mean. Obviously they all knew very different things.

"Maybe we should say another couple of words," Nicole suggested.

But Quinn was the first to respond not wanting to take things too far, "Actually I don't really know anything. Well, it doesn't really mean anything now so just count me out. It's nothing."

"Mine is probably nothing too," Lola resolved.

"Yeah, I guess mine too," Nicole agreed.

"So it's all nothing. Dana and Logan were right," Lola concluded.

But Quinn and Nicole just shrugged not committing still and Lola was thinking the same thing. They said it was nothing and the proof of nothing was clearly there. But then there was a bunch of little things that may very well have meant nothing, but they also could have meant something. Especially after seeing them together, it just seemed like something was really possible.

The girls turned their attention to the television as they finished their lunch because they weren't sure what they should or shouldn't say

* * *

Meanwhile Dean Rivers gave Zoey the distraction she had been hoping for. 

Dean Rivers moved a large stack of binders from the table behind his desk to in front of his desk right in front of Zoey. He explained, "The decorations at the dance the other night were fantastic. You and Mr. Matthews did a better job with your task than anyone else, you make a great team. So we have some stuff that needs to get done. Fundraisers to organize, charity drives, approving petitions for time at the next assembly, and organizing the next assembly and finding a speaker for it. Oh and Thanksgiving needs to be organized. You're one of the many that stays here for it, right? Just arrange the usual decorations, make it feel homey, whatever. Also, if you can arrange it I was thinking this year we could hold a winter formal, but we'd need to hold it in four weeks so everything would have to be set so we could announce it by the end of the week. Actually, just about everything needs to be arranged by the end of this week. I'm sure you and Mr. Matthews will do a great job. Where is he anyway? I thought you were going to let him know I wanted to see you both."

Zoey didn't want to face Chase so she hadn't told him or anyone that Dean Rivers didn't want to just see her. So Zoey lied uncomfortably, "I told him, but he wasn't feeling well."

"Oh well if he's not going to be able to help you with this then I'll give it to someone else. This is way too much for you to get done on your own," Dean Rivers warned knowing that he was asking a lot of two people in the first place and if only one was able to do it nothing would get done.

But Zoey wanted a distraction so she replied, "No it's fine. He just needed to rest a bit. We'll get all of this done, no problem."

Zoey was determined to finish everything without any help because she was fine. Or at least she wanted to be fine and maybe if she could just juggle everything like she always did once she was done everything would be forgotten. It seemed like every week a new challenge was always being thrown at her, a new problem to solve. And every week she came up with some smart way to deal with the problem either saving her or her friends and either with or without their help and in the end everything was always okay. So now Dean Rivers had given her a problem and maybe if she just got through it in the end everything would be okay.

Zoey gathered the mass of binders containing all the information on everything that needed to be done into her arms and staggered out the door.

* * *

Nicole went to cheer practice wondering if it would be the last time she went to cheer practice. Tiffany hadn't said anything about anyone being cut from the team, but they all knew it was coming. Tiffany had warned them that if they didn't seem popular enough at the dance on the previous Saturday night then they would be cut, but she hadn't said who, if anyone, didn't meet her requirements. 

Normally the girls would head to the locker room first to change, but there was a note on the locker room door telling them not to change and just head into the gym.

Tiffany, with Jenna and Morgan distantly on either side of her, was standing on the bleachers (as if they were her stage) so the rest of the squad sat down on the floor knowing that they were meant to be her audience for whatever she had in store.

Tiffany was smiling, but Nicole didn't find it comforting at all since she cut the last girl smiling too. Tiffany announced, "Our squad of fifteen is going to become twelve. There were three of you that seemed to take my threat casually on Saturday night. Three people who congregated with friends, laughed, had fun, and didn't wear their costumes the way I intended. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Well, I guess it sucks for you that I did notice Ashley, Megan, and Kiley you're cut. Please leave now and return your costumes and uniforms later. Bye."

Three surprised girls got up from the floor. Kiley, a petite wavy haired brunette, started to cry over her ambition that was ripped away from her.

Once the three girls had exited the gym Tiffany continued, "Now technically the rest of you completed the task. Some of you found ways to cheat and succeed," Tiffany looked pointedly at Nicole before finishing, "Since you did succeed at seeming popular at the dance don't worry, you're safe…for now."

Tiffany began casually striding on a bleacher seat, her balance never faltering as she informed the rest of the squad left of some changes, "Like I said last week, I've decided that cheerleaders are going to be more than just the peppy girls at the football games, we're going to be something everyone wants to be. This of course means that not everyone can be us so we've become an elitist organization and therefore we associate only with each other. Now how this translates onto your life is that we will now be eating every meal together, just us cheerleaders for as long as you are a cheerleader because at least two more cuts need to be made, and soon. You'll learn the rest of the new rules to make us the girl click to be at dinner. You should all probably bring a pen and paper because if you happen to forget a rule and then break it, you're off the team. It doesn't matter if it's intentional or not, breaking rules means you're off the team. And if you don't like this new arrangement, if this wasn't what you wanted when you tried out for the cheer squad, then you can leave. But if you walk away from us then you're sending a message that I don't like and I will make your life miserable for that."

Even one of Tiffany's own looked terrified by then end of her speech. Morgan had always been the palest of the three, but she seemed more so now. Tiffany was a force to be reckoned with and she was letting everyone know.

With all the girls looking appropriately fearful Tiffany decided she could conclude for now since her message had obviously been received, "Well, you'll find out the rest at dinner. We won't be having practice today, but you're not free to go. You're all to go into the locker room and change into something to run in because today you'll be doing laps on the track. There are too many size smalls on the team and not enough extra smalls. You should also watch what you put on your tray at meals. Why are you still sitting? Up. Go change."

Jenna stepped down a few bleachers to stand next to Tiffany as Morgan also made her way stumbling over as all the girls that had been on the floor raced out to the locker room. Jenna remarked, "Harsh much Tiff?"

"We have pets, why not play with them," Tiffany said with a malicious smile.

Morgan had heard the last statement as she approached and asked, "Does playing have to be so mean though?"

Before Tiffany could respond, Jenna added, "Of course it does. Everything Tiff has done since summer has been extra cruel. She needs to get her anger about Johnny out somewhere."

"I do not have absolutely anything over John Ely," Tiffany quickly denied.

"Which is why you spent your summer parading around your house in the skimpiest outfits," Jenna quickly rebutted. Jenna wasn't known for her intelligence, but she was there hanging out with Tiffany all summer and she could tell she was trying to get noticed.

"It was a hot summer," Tiffany said as if that was the obvious reason for her summer clothing choices.

While Jenna was smart enough to notice that Tiffany had been dressing with a purpose over the summer, she wasn't quite intuitive enough to know how deep the entire thing ran. So she continued on even when she shouldn't have, "Yeah and the heat was why I pretty much didn't wear anything more than boy shorts and a bra to the dance the other night. What was the temperature Saturday night? Fifty seven degrees?"

Tiffany didn't respond. She wasn't quite sure how to respond. If she tried to respond would it just emphasize that she was denying something? Or would it make it obvious that she cared?

Morgan didn't live near Tiffany and Jenna so she didn't witness the summer wardrobe that Jenna was referring to. Morgan did know that taunting Tiffany would never be a good idea. Morgan also knew that Jenna wouldn't see her continuing on the topic as taunting, but fun conversation. But to Morgan, Jenna's continuing seemed dangerous so she shot Jenna a look that said shut up.

Jenna, however, either didn't notice Morgan's pointed expression or didn't understand what it meant and continued, "I totally get it though. If Johnny was my brother I'd totally be into incest too. He's so hot."

Morgan interjected trying to prevent anything bad from happening, "Step. They're step siblings so technically it wouldn't be incest, no blood relation."

Tiffany hadn't reacted, she wouldn't let herself. She would not fall apart, she would not flinch, she never allowed herself to be that girl. She said with a normal slightly disinterested tone, "If you like John so much you should just go after him, I don't care. Both of you just remember that it absolutely doesn't get out that we're supposed to be one big happy family now. I don't want everyone knowing that my father's poor decision has caused me to be legally related to Mr. Trailer Park." Tiffany said her entire response and walked away from her friends seeming completely fine. But really Jenna was right. She flaunted herself in front of John all summer and she didn't get a second glance, she didn't even get a first glance. And the fact that he didn't notice made Tiffany feel worthless and she hated feeling worthless. So when she felt worthless Tiffany had the habit of making those around her feel worse and the people that were subject to her wrath now were the cheerleaders.

* * *

Dinner that night was the first time the entire gang was together since breakfast. Well the entire gang minus Zoey again and now Nicole too since she had to eat with the cheer squad. 

Chase hadn't talked much to anyone. Part of him just didn't want to talk about it, to be reminded of the hopelessness of the situation. The other part of him thought that talking about it with his friends would only reveal that they blamed him, which he understood because he blamed himself for everything that happened, for how far everything escalated. But as much as he didn't want to think about the fact that he was losing Zoey, he had to ask, "So…uh…h-how is she?"

Lola, Dana, and Quinn exchanged glances, but Lola took the lead responding, "It's hard to tell. Like you she's not talking much."

Dana quickly added, "And when we brought it up she left even though we hadn't even had lunch yet."

"I have no idea what to do," Chase admitted, "and I don't think things will ever be okay again."

"Yes they will," Michael assured, "just give it some time. Give her what she seems to want right now, give her some space, and while you do that I'm sure you'll figure out a way to fix it. And if you can't come up with anything then I'm sure one of us will."

"Yeah, we all want to help," Lola added. Logan opened his mouth, most likely to make a smart ass remark, but swiftly received a kick under the table from Dana before he could say anything.

Chase nodded absently; he knew they would help him if they could. But right now as he sat at dinner, a dinner that Zoey would usually be at, he wasn't worried about what could be done to save him and Zoey. There was only one thing going through Chase's head, "This is the longest we've ever gone without talking."

It had only been a little over twenty-four hours, but to Chase it had been an eternity. Everyone else at the table knew that it was hard for Chase to be separated from Zoey as a result of his own actions, but not all of them understood what it was like to so greatly miss the mere presence of someone. For the ones that understood, they didn't want to, and especially didn't want to admit to understanding to others or themselves. So no one responded sincerely to Chase's statement.

Logan, however, did respond, just not with any type of concern. He groaned, "God you're depressing." Of course his statement earned him another kick under the table, causing him to cry out with an "ow" at his bruised shins were kicked yet again.

Michael, Lola, and Quinn were, like Dana, glaring at Logan for his insensitivity, but Chase just shook his head and said, "No…I mean, you don't have to kick him. Logan's right I am all depressed and hopeless because everything is right now, because I screwed up with Zoey. But I shouldn't bring you guys down too. So...um…should change the topic. How do you guys think Nicole's doing with the cheerleaders?"

Chase was making an effort to get things to seem normal and clearly trying to distract himself in the process. No one was going to discourage his attempt and Dana was the first to respond with, "She said Tiffany was giving them rules so I doubt it could be going well."

* * *

Dana was completely right. Across the cafeteria Nicole was starting to get a cramp in her hand as she started writing down the seventh page of rules. Most of the rules were stupid and quite frivolous. It seemed like Tiffany was just making everyone do stuff for her own entertainment. 

Nicole had the urge to ask questions about some of the rules, but she kept her mouth shut for fear of what Tiffany would do if she dared to interrupt her. When Kath showed up at the table with a big cookie accompanying her dinner Tiffany promptly grabbed it off her tray and threw it away claiming that all the girls needed to watch their calorie intake. Well, she didn't actually put it that nicely or without profanity or yelling, which was why Nicole was so terrified of making any kind of mistake.

They only sat down to dinner about thirty-five minutes ago, but Tiffany had already mentioned pages of rules. For example, Tiffany declared the basics that all cheerleaders were to eat together for every meal every day and that they were to be exclusive. Also, all dates were to be approved by the team as well as boyfriends. Those who were already in relationships were exempt from the rule until their next relationship, which was the nicest of the amendments to the rules. One ponytail was allowed a week, those who dared to wear a scrunchie would be cut. Then there were some simpler rules that actually made sense like that they were supposed to wear their cheer uniform on game days.

Nicole glanced longingly at the table of her friends, but was forced to quickly return her attention to Tiffany who spewed forth another rule, "Headbands are back in so get on board with the fad. You're to wear at least one a week and it should be a different one each time."

Elizabeth dared to interrupt Tiffany and say, "But headbands make my ears look big."

"That's because you have big ears," Tiffany stated as if it was obvious and continued, "but that's not my problem. That's for you and your plastic surgeon to discuss."

"I don't have a plastic surgeon," Elizabeth quickly denied for fear that she was being accused of having work done.

"But shouldn't you?" Tiffany replied quickly and cruelly.

Elizabeth sank down in her seat, understanding that she wasn't being accused of having plastic surgery, but of being in need of it. She received sympathetic glances from all the other girls, except Jenna and Tiffany. Morgan, since Tiffany wasn't paying any attention to her, joined the other girls in their small effort to immediately make Elizabeth feel better. She knew Tiffany was ripping the other girls to shreds and they didn't deserve it, in fact the only reason she remained Tiffany's friend was because she feared what would happen if she wasn't.

Tiffany continued her rules, "We will discuss the day's gossip at dinner every night so be on top of what's going on and have something to contribute or be prepared to hand in your uniform."

Nicole glanced back to her friends again. The gang minus Zoey was all getting up and heading their separate directions while she was still stuck with Tiffany rambling on about her new rules. And she thought cheerleading was going to be fun.

* * *

After dinner Quinn returned to her room to work on her homework alone, she didn't like to work in a group, it distracted her. 

Chase was also on his own for the night. He thought he would be working on homework because he did have stuff to do, but it took him hours to get through the simplest things. All he could think about was Zoey and his current awful situation with her.

Dana and Logan were together, but not doing homework, they weren't particularly concerned with homework, at least not while they were together. But having lots to do and not wanting to work with each other shortened their time together, making sure that neither of them was close to being late for their dorm curfews.

Michael and Lola were also together. As they left dinner Lola told Michael to come to the girls lounge with his books. He did as he was told and they sat down at a table together and Michael started doing his homework, but Lola didn't.

"So if we're not doing homework, then what are we doing here?" Michael questioned glancing up from his work to see Lola watching him work.

"We have chemistry," Lola replied simply, but when Michael's smile she realized her response came out different then she intended. She corrected, "You know, I mean we have chemistry class together and I suck at chemistry and you don't so I need you to finish the work so I can copy."

She was using him, and he didn't really have a problem with it, but Michael pointed out, "But then you wouldn't really learn it."

"Yes, but homework accounts for sixty percent of our grade so if I copy off of you and do good on all of it, then I'll pass and it won't matter how I do on tests. I'll get credit and I won't ever have to take chemistry again," Lola explained and finished with a smile.

Michael's smile grew as he resisted the urge to laugh, though he didn't know why he wanted to laugh. He shook his head and returned to his work.

Lola perched an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand as she stared unabashedly at Michael as he worked.

He could tell her eyes were on him and after a couple of minutes he couldn't take it anymore. "Lola," he said in a warning tone.

"Yes," she replied as innocently and obliviously as she possibly could.

Michael paused before deciding on exactly how he should put it. He liked that she was looking at him, that she seemed interested in him. But it was also incredibly distracting and he needed to get the work done for the both of them now. He asked, "Do you have to watch me as I do our work?"

"No," she admitted but added, "but you look cute when you concentrate."

"Really?" Michael questioned surprised, but trying not to sound too excited.

"No," Lola said truthfully because she had just been messing with him, but before he had the chance to take the remark the wrong way she added, "you look much cuter when you smile." This, of course, caused Michael to smile. Lola quickly continued and said, "But what else am I supposed to do? This is boring."

"You could do the work on your own," Michael answered still smiling.

"I'd fail if I did it on my own," Lola knew. Before Michael could say anything back though, Lola gasped as she realized something she could do, "Oh, but brilliant idea. You know what we could do?"

"Well I'm already doing something. Remember our homework?" Michael said, but wasn't listened to.

Lola ignored Michael's tiny wrench in her idea and continued, "We should make a video blog like lonelygirl15, but real and about Chase and Zoey and Dana and Logan. Like little updates on the soap opera that is their complicated love lives."

"I think you watch too many soap operas," Michael guessed.

"Actually, all my soaps are on during classes and drama club and play practice so I can't watch any of them," Lola responded a bit saddened at the thought that she was missing learning whether Sami was pregnant with evil E.J. DiMera's baby or Lucas' on _Days of_ _Our Lives_. She added, "But our friends are my new favorite show and we should share them. Plus, if you would play the male roles, we could even act out little scenes between them and it could get insanely popular and I could get discovered and then it's just a matter of time before I get an Oscar…and an Emmy, I want both."

Michael decided that he would help her just because it seemed like it would make her happy, but playfully asked anyway, "But what's in it for me? I mean, not only will I probably not be good at acting, but even if I was, I don't want to be an actor. So this wouldn't have any benefits for me."

Lola smiled sweetly and replied, "You get to spend more time with me."

"And this is something I want?" Michael questioned though it was something he wanted.

"Of course it is. You showed up here without being told why so you must have come just because I was asking. You came for me," Lola replied confidently.

"Yeah, I did," Michael confirmed but questioned suspiciously, "but you just asked me because of chemistry?"

"Yep,…but not because of our class," Lola admitted as a light blush rose on her cheeks despite the fact that he already knew she liked him and she knew he liked her.

Michael smiled and glanced down bashfully before meeting Lola's eyes again and saying, "Okay so I guess we're going to create a video blog series, but we can't let Chase or Zoey or Dana or Logan know about it. And I don't think they'd appreciate the rest of the school knowing a bunch of stuff about them."

"Oh…right," Lola responded as her shoulders sank at the major kink in her idea.

"But Quinn could probably help us with that," Michael offered and watched Lola light up again at her idea being possible again.

She smiled excitedly and asked, "So we'll go to her in the morning?"

"Yeah, we will," Michael confirmed, glad that she had come up with a situation for them to be a "we" more often.

* * *

The next morning before the gang met for breakfast Michael met Lola outside Quinn's door to ask for her assistance. 

Lola knocked and Quinn yelled, "Come in." Lola opened the door and saw Jack lying face down on the floor at the foot of Quinn's bed.

As Lola and Michael entered the room and shut the door behind them, Lola asked, "What's Jack doing here? And like that?"

"Oh, he's been here since last night," Quinn replied absently, waving the question off as she continued to type something from her red notebook into her computer.

Michael was still confused since Quinn hadn't fully answered the questions, but Lola took Quinn's response a different way. Lola stood looking at Quinn with her mouth gaping open because she took the fact that Quinn had a guy spend the night in her room to mean something very different and frankly she was surprised.

Michael, being confused and not having assumed anything, asked, "Why is he still down there like that though?"

Quinn finally tore her attention away from her project and explained, "Well, last night he came over just to talk and he was poking around with my inventions and spilt my chocolate milk. So I went to the bathroom to get some paper towels to clean it up and when I came back he was unconscious. He must have found that unconscious causing device from a couple of years ago. Anyway, he's breathing, has a steady heartbeat, but he's been unconscious ever since."

"That makes more sense than what I was thinking," Lola muttered to herself.

Michael checked, "But Jack's okay right?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Quinn quickly assured. Knowing that they couldn't have come just to ask about Jack's current state Quinn asked, "So what do you guys need?"

Lola sat down on Quinn's bed and Michael followed as she responded, "We were wondering if you could do us a favor, but it's kind of about something that needs to be a secret so first we need to know if you're okay with keeping a secret from everyone?"

"If it's nothing really bad and there's a good reason for all of this then I guess so," Quinn reasoned.

Lola glanced at Michael who gave her a slight nod of approval to go forward so Lola explained, "We want to make a video blog series about Zoey and Chase and Dana and Logan. But none of them can know about it and it probably wouldn't be good for anyone else who goes here to know about it either so we were wondering if you could help us out with that?"

Quinn seemed pensive for a second before she responded, "I could probably figure something out, but why are you doing this?"

Lola promptly and excitedly explained, "Well for everyone watching the series it would be giving them great entertainment because Chase and Zoey always seem almost on the brink of finally becoming something more than friends and Dana and Logan are…well, it's Dana and Logan, who knows what's going to happen with them next. And if I'm acting stuff out that takes place between them, with Michael's help, then it's like I'm creating a great career opportunity for myself and I could totally get discovered. And if any of them are every having any problems that none of us can figure out like this whole thing of what Chase should do to get Zoey to talk to him, we could get advice from viewers in the form of comments and maybe set up a forum. So really, everyone involved in this gets something really good out of it, everyone wins."

Quinn contemplated the idea for a second. Really, it wasn't a bad idea. If it did happen to get really popular Lola could get something out of it and her friend's complicated love lives could use all the help they could get, she knew that for a fact. So Quinn agreed, "Okay, I'll see if I can figure something out to let you set it up, but I may have something else to contribute to help you make it more interesting."

"What?" Lola questioned eagerly.

Quinn reached for her red note book and asked, "You know how I have this with me everywhere?" Lola and Michael both nodded so Quinn continued, "Well, it's kind of research on everyone." Noticing Lola and Michael's suspicious looks Quinn quickly covered, "I mean on Zoey and Chase and Dana and Logan." With the relief on their faces noticeable, Quinn continued to explain, "I've been keeping track of their behaviors to see if they indicate changes in their feelings toward each other."

"And?" Michael questioned curiously.

As Quinn brought up a chart on her computer she answered, "Well, they're kind of inconsistent so at this point nothing is really adding up to much. Zoey had been blushing more around Chase, there was a steady increase and I thought that meant something, but now with them not talking...I guess not. But I still think that tracking behaviors could say something about the progressions of their relationships so maybe my research could be helpful to you eventually."

"Yeah, it would be great if it did become helpful for the show, but better for both of them if they just finally start making progress," Michael commented knowing that no matter what other motivations lied behind the blog idea and the notebook, it was most important that the relationships become what they were supposed to be and all the drama always getting in the way be ended.

Quinn said she'd let them know when she figured out a way for their idea to work the way they wanted and Lola and Michael left, stepping over Jack again on their way out.

* * *

The rest of the day was rather uneventful for the gang. Meals were eaten in relative silence because no on knew what to say, plus Nicole was gone so everything was much quieter. 

No one saw Zoey out at any of the meals. Lola had asked her if she wanted to grab lunch, just the two of them, but Zoey said she was too busy and she would be working through lunch. Later when Nicole returned to her and Zoey's room at the end of classes she found Zoey already there and frantically researching on-line as she yelled at someone on the phone. Whatever Zoey was planning was clearly already stressing her out because she didn't even seem to notice Nicole as she gathered her things and left to do her work in the lounge since she couldn't really concentrate with all of Zoey's questions and furious typing. And when Nicole returned two hours later to change her outfit before dinner (one of Tiffany's rules), Zoey still seemed to be in the same highly concentrated state only responding to Nicole's question about whether or not she was going to stop working to eat with a non-verbal grunt of a noise.

After dinner and her fourth meal away from the gang and with Tiffany the Terrible, Nicole was in desperate need of venting. She caught up with Lola and Dana on their way back to their building after dinner and followed them up to their room to unleash a fury of whining and complaining.

After about an hour of hearing "Tiffany said"'s, "Tiffany's did"'s , and "She's evil"'s , Dana had had enough finally yelling, "Then why don't you just do everyone a favor and hit her hard enough that she'll be too afraid to ever try telling you what to do again."

"But she'd throw me off the team," Nicole said as if it'd be the worst thing in the world because if it wasn't for Tiffany she'd really like cheerleading.

"What if I hit her?" Dana offered, really hoping she could even though she didn't know Tiffany, but despite that she had managed to become a huge nuisance in her life through her effect on Nicole.

"No don't," Nicole was quick to say and explained, "She knows we're friends and she'll think I put you up to it. I'm just going to have to endure Tiffany and hope that she grows a heart."

Nicole sighed and let the television and a new episode of _Gilmore Girls_ capture her attention, as did Dana.

Lola had been somewhat watching, paying attention to Nicole's rant, and reading over her lines for the play drama club was doing, The Glass Menagerie (she had won the role of Laura). When she noticed that the show had gone to a commercial break she finally asked the question she had been wondering, but saved until Nicole was done venting, "What are you doing here tonight Dana? Aren't you usually with Logan?"

"We had to take a break," Dana said without her eyes leaving the TV. Feeling the looks of the other two girls she sighed, looked at them, and explained, "We had an actual conversation and that's just weird, so we decided we needed to spend time apart."

Lola shared a brief look with Nicole and asked, "What did you talk about?"

Resigning to the fact that they were indeed going to talk about her and Logan, Dana turned to face them fully and launched into her story, "We usually meet towards the end of lunch, go our separate ways for sixth period, and then we have the same seventh period, English with Chase and Zoey. So, it was a couple of minutes before lunch ended and we were getting ready to leave; I was re-applying lip gloss and Logan was playing with his hair while he stared at himself in his mirror. Then he asked how much we were supposed to have read in _All For Love._ And I said through the prologue. Then he asked if he could borrow my book because, despite the fact that we were just given them on Friday, he lost his. And then I said no because I was going to do the reading during my next class and I told him to swipe one from down there. Then we realized that we were talking and not fighting and that was weird and we needed to do something to make it stop so we decided we wouldn't be alone together for the next twenty four hours starting then and ending sixteen hours and twenty two minutes from now." Quickly noticing the looks of peaked interest from the girls Dana realized her mistake and tried to cover by adding, "Or something like that."

"Right," Lola said doubtfully, but said nothing more.

"Okay," Nicole said and turned back to the television also dropping the issue for now.

But both girls were thinking along the same lines; it seemed as though progress was being made quicker than either expected.

* * *

Meanwhile in the boys dorms Michael had been trying to get Chase to talk to him because Chase hadn't been talking much lately and Michael wasn't sure that his best friend was at all okay. But Chase just kept saying he was fine and he had work to do. But he sat for hours staring at act one of _All for Love_ and it made him wonder what the point was. He had learned a bit about Roman history, his dad was kind of a history nut and even liked to go to Civil War reenactments. It was very unlikely that Antony loved Cleopatra, people just liked to think that he did because he had an affair with her while he was married to his third and fourth wives. And they got to be together and got to be immortalized in tragic romantic literature when they probably didn't even love each other. And he loved Zoey and he couldn't even talk to her. And if he couldn't talk to her then hope for them ever being together, of her loving him back, seemed impossible. He was going to be Octavia, he just knew it. Octavia was Antony's fourth wife, her marriage to him arranged as a political tactic by her brother Octavian who was sharing power of Rome with Antony. Maybe she didn't truly love Antony either, but she was a good wife and she did care for him and his children even if they weren't hers. And she got nothing from him or anyone. She ended up alone and that was how Chase was starting to think he was sure to end up, alone. 

Suddenly a copy of the book he was staring at hit the wall near Chase's head. He put the book down and saw Logan across the room looking frustrated.

"That book is so stupid," Logan said as he got up from his bed in a huff and plopped down on the couch.

"It's a play actually," Chase corrected.

Logan continued to flip through channels as he remarked, "So, that doesn't make it any easier to understand."

"You seem extra moody tonight," Michael commented.

"What?" Logan asked like he hadn't actually been paying attention, but the comment sparked worry in him.

"You threw your book, one of your mirrors after groaning while you looked in it for twenty minutes, and earlier you were really hitting your keyboard hard when you were typing," Michael accounted.

"Whatever," Logan said dismissively as he threw the remote to the other side of the couch and picked up a video game controller because he wasn't finding anything on TV to watch fast enough. "Who wants to play me?" he asked the room at large.

Chase got up and played with Logan for a couple of hours because video games were a good distraction, one they both needed.

* * *

After his third night of restless sleep and yet another meal without Zoey, Chase's mind began to wander while he sat in his second period Spanish class with Quinn and Lola who sat in front of and beside him respectively. Chase's mind wandered to the emptier breakfasts, lunches, and dinners from the week so far and he realized, though he knew Zoey wasn't eating with them, he couldn't remember seeing her even at the cafeteria ever. What if she hadn't been eating? But that was insane, just because he hadn't noticed her wouldn't mean she hadn't been eating. She probably wouldn't want him to notice her anyway. Plus, Zoey wouldn't just not eat because he was there, she was smarter than that. But she also had a tendency to let working on something take over her life and she always seemed to be doing something else even through their classes. She looked stressed out and when she was she overlooked things, he knew she did because he had seen it happen many times. And Monday at lunch didn't Dana say something like, "She left before we ate lunch,"? 

Starting to worry that his suspicious were correct, Chase quickly scribble a note to Lola asking if Zoey ate anything with lunch on them at Monday and if she had seen her eat anything all week. He leaned to his right and quickly slipped the note onto her desk.

Lola tore her attention away from the soap opera like instructional video they were watching and quickly responded to Chase's note and passed it back.

Chase read: _No she didn't eat with us. She left for a meeting with Dean Rivers. I don't think I've seen her eat anything all week, but I haven't really paid attention. What is this all about?_

When Chase finished reading and looked up, Lola was watching him with a questioning look. He mouthed later to her and tore his paper and repeated his question about seeing Zoey eat to Quinn. He dropped the note over her shoulder and her first response was to glance at him and give him an exasperated look. She didn't like passing notes in class because she always thought it was too distracting and she'd miss something important. She opened, read, and responded to the note anyway and dropped it back over her shoulder to land on Chase's desk.

Chase eagerly opened the note and read: _I don't think I've seen her eat or in line at the caf. I've seen her drinking coffee or juice, but that's it._

The bell rang and Chase instantly had two pairs of eyes on him awaiting answers. He began as they gathered their things, "I don't remember seeing Zoey eating at all this week or even around anywhere where she could buy food. I know she's avoiding me and probably wouldn't want me to see her anywhere, but she also seems really busy with something and stressed. And you know how when she gets stressed she can tend to overlook stuff?" Chase only received two blank stares as they exited their class, but continued anyway trying to justify everything to them and himself, "Well, I just...what if…I'm just worried and I need to make sure she's alright."

The girls understood. Lola offered, "If you hang around here long enough you can probably catch Nicole since she has this class next and ask her if she's noticed Zoey eating, she's seen her more than any of the rest of us."

"And if we remember seeing her eat or see her eating now, we'll let you know," Quinn added before she waved goodbye and headed to her next class.

Lola wished Chase luck in his endeavor and departed for her next class as well.

Given that the campus was pretty good sized, they had eight minutes in between classes. The bell had already rung three minutes before Quinn and Lola left Chase and he waited another three before Nicole finally showed up.

He ran down the hall to her when he saw her enter the building and asked hurriedly, "Have you seen Zoey eat anything this week?"

Noticing Chase's urgency and knowing that she was, as usual, probably just going to make it on time to her Spanish class (she had gym the previous period and they only gave them ten minutes to change and it took longer than that to get pretty again and not gross; better late than sweaty, that was always her motto), Nicole tried to think quickly. Suddenly Nicole remembered and said, "Oh, I saw an apple core in the trash this morning when I emptied it and it wasn't mine. And I think I saw her eating a muffin…Monday night, maybe? But I haven't seen her at the cafeteria or at Sushi Rox or at the pizza place and she doesn't have any takeout containers from anyone and the only thing in our mini fridge is water and juice and soda. We really need to go shopping."

Chase listened intently and it was good to hear that someone saw her eat something, but it still wasn't much. He nodded and said, "Thanks. Michael's in this class with you, right?" Nicole nodded and Chase quickly continued, "If you think of anything else tell him and he can tell me in Media later. I'll explain later I have to get to P.E."

Chase ran across campus to the gym, but was still late to class, which he knew he was going to be since when he left Nicole he only had a minute to get there, but it was worth it to get more information and try and make sure Zoey was okay.

Logan was in Chase's P.E. class and he didn't think that Logan really paid attention to anyone other than himself, but he figured it was worth a try. Except by the time Chase got to class and got changed, everyone else was already out on the track running laps and Logan was difficult to catch up with.

With enough huffing and puffing Chase finally managed to work his way up to Logan. Or maybe Logan had lapped him, but at this point he really didn't care.

"Hey," he said as he caught up beside Logan. He had planned to say more, but damn, he was really out of shape since last basketball season.

"Hey," Logan returned, running with an easy stride.

"Uh, have you seen Zoey eat anything this week?" Chase asked quickly as he gasped for air and tried to remain at Logan's side so he could hear his response.

"No," Logan said with a chuckle, "I don't even know what I've eaten this week." After a beat of silence Logan asked to Chase who was falling further and further behind him, "I have eaten this week, right?"

"Yeah," Chase responded and let himself come to a stop on the tracks to rest a second. So what if their P.E. teacher would be pissed, he was tired of feeling like he couldn't breathe, couldn't think, because what he needed most wasn't there.

Fourth period advanced media with Michael and Chase still didn't learn anything new. Michael didn't remember Zoey eating anything and Nicole didn't have anything that she added and wanted to pass on.

Chase had fifth period world history with Dana and they were supposed to start working on a project on a country of their choice together.

Chase intended to ask Dana the same question he had been asking everyone else, but she beat him to it, "So Quinn told me that you're worried that Zoey hasn't been eating. I haven't seen her eat either."

Chase was surprised for a moment, he forgot that Quinn and Dana had third period biology together and were lab partners (because as Dana put it, "she wanted to pass"). Dana's response basically being the same as everyone else's though was pretty discouraging. He said, "Well, that's everyone then. And the only person that's seen her eat is Nicole and it wasn't much. And she said that they don't really have any food in their room so…"

After a minute of silence, of thought, Dana offered, "It's not everyone. What about everyone that could have given Zoey food?"

"That's a good idea," Chase responded, but then realized, "but I could never make it to everyone during lunch and if she's not eating then I need to get her something to eat, but if it's me then I can't give it to her and-"

"I'll help," Dana cut him off, "I'll hit the coffee carts and the pizza place. You take the cafeteria and Kazu. I'll call you and let you know if anyone's seen her and if it's a no then wherever you are you can pick up food. I'll meet you back at our building and I'll bring it to her."

Chase was a bit confused almost for a minute. He considered Dana a friend and they had sort of kept in touch while she was away. He would send her his and Michael's shows and would forward what he thought were funny video and she would write back but never more than half a page. And he knew she cared about her friends, about all of them, but lately lunch had been eating quickly and her and Logan leaving, so that she was giving that up and so eager and willing to help, he was just surprised. He recovered enough to say, "Thank you."

Dana shrugged and admitted, "Well, I could use something to keep me busy and not thinking about…the situation." Dana wasn't actually going to say it if it wasn't necessary and didn't manage to call it "the situation" without rolling her eyes.

"What situation?" Chase asked suddenly feeling completely in the dark.

Dana's brows knit together in confusion, "He didn't tell you?"

Chase shook his head as he replied, "I don't even know who_ he _is."

"Logan," Dana quickly replied.

"I should have figured," Chase said with a small smile that somehow felt somewhat mocking to Dana.

"Don't start," Dana warned.

"I didn't say anything," Chase countered as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat, shutting his mouth tightly.

"It's nothing," Dana reiterated. Chase nodded in agreement, but very exaggeratedly and clearly not actually believing her. Dana sighed and changed the subject, "We should really pick a country."

"What is the actual project though?" Chase asked realizing that he had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.

"I don't know. I didn't read the handout," Dana said as she passed her handout to Chase to read. She continued, "What I do know is that we're supposed to pick a country and by the look of the list of taken countries on the board, everyone else has picked and they took all the good ones."

"There are good ones?" Chase questioned.

"There are easier ones," Dana responded.

Chase skimmed the project handout as he asked, "So what country do you want to do?"

Dana opened her text book to a page with an atlas, spun the book around on the desk, closed her eyes, and stopped the book by picking a spot and touching it with her index finger. She opened her eyes, looked at what she landed on, checked the board, and said, "We're doing Sri Lanka."

Chase didn't have any argument to doing the country that he knew absolutely nothing about, but he also wasn't given a chance to object to it since as soon as Dana announced it she got up and made her way across the room to tell their teacher.

When Dana sat back down next to him, Chase got back on track and asked, "So what's this situation with Logan?"

Lucky for Dana, just after she gave the briefest explanation possible ("we had an actual conversation so now we're on a break"), the bell rang and they headed off in opposite directions to their tasks.

Chase headed to the cafeteria first. Zoey didn't seem to be there. From what Michael had told him, Chase knew that who they called "the nice lunch lady", she knew who Chase and Zoey were (and had noticed Chase's interest in her), so he figured she would probably know if Zoey had been in.

Chase cut in between some students to talk to the petite elderly lunch lady whose name tag said Doris. "Excuse me, Doris?" Chase began.

"What can I do for you honey?" She replied.

"Um, you know the blond girl I'm usually in here with?" Chase asked.

"You mean the one you're sweet on?" She replied smiling and winked at him.

Not really caring who knew at the moment, Chase didn't try to deny it, "Yeah, her. Have you seen her in here since Sunday?"

"Well, I don't work on the weekends, but if she's been in here in the last two days or today I haven't seen her," Doris informed him. She noticed that that didn't seem to be what he was hoping to hear and asked concerned, "Nothing's wrong is it?"

Chase sighed as his gaze remained downcast and responded quietly, "Yeah, maybe."

Chase hurried to Sushi Rox and hoped the entire way that Kazu had seen her and that she had been in to eat.

Not seeing anyone when he entered the restaurant, Chase called out, "Kazu?"

Kazu came out of the back room and greeted, "Hey Chase, you here to pick up your schedule?"

"No, um," Chase was interrupted by his phone ringing. He said, "Uh, just a second." Kazu waved it off and Chase answered his phone only to receive bad news from Dana. Other than Zoey buying coffee and one muffin from the coffee cart closest to their home room, no one had seen her. Chase shut his phone and prayed that Kazu would give him good news. He asked the patiently waiting man, "Has Zoey been in here in the last two days to get food?"

Kazu thought for a second, "Nope. I don't think I've seen her for about a week."

That was not the answer Chase was hoping for. If Zoey wasn't getting food from any of the places on campus, she didn't have any food in her room according to Nicole, and no one had really seen her eat, then how could Chase be sure that she had eaten? Maybe she wasn't talking to him now and maybe she never would again, but that didn't mean that he didn't need to make sure she was okay. And from the way everything sounded, she wasn't okay.

Chase explained what he thought was going on and as expected Kazu offered to help. Chase ordered excess of all of Zoey's favorites, which Kazu prepared as quickly as possible, and he raced them over to John Butler hall where Dana was waiting for him. He handed off the food and waited outside the main entrance to the building. He didn't know why he was waiting. Dana never said she would come back down to tell him what happened, but he just couldn't leave.

* * *

Before bothering to knock, Dana tried the door to Zoey's and Nicole's room. Everyone had noticed how busy and stressed Zoey seemed and she had told Nicole she was working on student council stuff, so Dana figured Zoey would probably be too absorbed in whatever to notice her knocking and really annoyed if she had to stop whatever and get up and answer the door. Luckily, the door was unlocked. 

Zoey didn't even look up from her computer screen as Dana let herself in. Not until Dana set the bag of food on Zoey's keyboard right in front of her face did Zoey even seem to notice that someone else was in the room.

"What's this?" Zoey asked eyeing the bag curiously.

"Food," Dana replied simply. Zoey didn't move and she didn't seem to be any less confused by the bag placed in front of her, so Dana elaborated, "It's all your favorites from Sushi Rox. You haven't been eating and you need to eat. You can't let yourself get caught up in whatever you're working on and just ignore everything else."

"I didn't mean to not eat," Zoey defended, "I just…God, I really am hungry."

Dana smiled, grabbed the bag, and headed over to the couch as she said, "Come on, there's a ton of food and you're sharing because I haven't had lunch yet."

Zoey joined Dana on the couch and they sat in a comfortable silence as they picked at the massive amount of food that had been packed into the large paper bag.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, Chase was staring up at Zoey's window. He didn't know why he was doing it; it wasn't like he could see anything going on inside. But before he started staring he was pacing and that just seemed to keep getting him in the way of people entering and exiting the building. 

Suddenly Logan appeared beside him and started staring at the building too. He asked, "What's going on? Is there a girl who's changing and forgot to shut her blinds?"

Chase hadn't been paying attention and with his gaze still fixed on Zoey's window he responded, "Huh?"

Logan caught on to exactly where Chase's sight was set on, "You can't even see into that window way up there. Wait…that's Zoey's window, isn't it? Man, why are you watching it, you can't see her this way."

"You wouldn't get it," Chase said dismissively.

"Because I'm smart enough to like more than one girl?" Logan countered with a smirk.

"Yep. That's it," Chase responded. But Logan was giving him a look that clearly said, "Try me." After a minute Chase finally gave in and told Logan why he had questioned him and everyone else about whether or not they had seen Zoey eating. He concluded, "So I got Zoey some food and since she really wouldn't want to see me, Dana volunteered to take the food up to her. She never said that she'd come back down and tell me what happened, but…there's really no where else I want to be right now."

Logan's attention to the story seemed to perk up when Chase mentioned that Dana was inside. He had actually been looking for her and now he had a reason to wait and stare up at the window with Chase. Of course, staring up at the window would make him seem desperate, which was fine for Chase, but he was cooler than that so he pretended to look around and check out other girls as he said, "Yeah, well Cruz should be down here before the bell rings. Our wait is up like five minutes before the bell."

Logan had tried to speak casually, but wasn't really successful because Chase smiled, shook his head, but said nothing not really wanting a distraction from his concentrated window watching.

* * *

Back inside as the thought of consuming any more food was starting to sound increasingly unappealing, Dana decided that she should probably see if any kind of progress could be made. She asked, "So why have you been working so hard on crap for student council? You know you could always just blow it off, it's not like you're getting graded." 

Zoey kept her gaze on the piece of sushi she was picking at as she admitted, "I really wanted a distraction and I've definitely got one in all the stuff Dean Rivers gave me to do. It's sort of like if I just throw my self into all this work, once I'm done, everything will be back to normal. Does that make sense?"

"It does to me," Dana responded as she stood up, but catching the sight out the window added, "but I'm also going to leave you now to meet the pacer outside. Long story, but our twenty four hour ban is up in about two minutes." Zoey looked confused about what exactly was going on, but didn't need to look outside to know that the "pacer" Dana was referring to was indeed Logan.

Dana paused at the door, turned and said, "You know the food wasn't from me, right?" Zoey didn't respond, her head was ducked down again and she was biting her lower lip, sort of like she wanted to say something but was unsure. Dana didn't have time to wait though. She added, "Well, he's not pacing, but he's staring hard enough you'd think these walls were transparent."

* * *

Logan had absolutely no patience. After a minute of fake checking out other girls, he began pacing. His pacing picked up speed with every minute that passed. He was practically speed walking back and forth in front of the entrance to the building. 

Chase was desperately trying not to laugh as he commented, "You know you could have been making out with just about any girl for the last twenty four hours and yet you're here pacing just for one? I think I was wrong when I said you wouldn't get it."

Logan seemed completely baffled at Chase's observation and asked, "What? What the hell are you talking about?"

As Chase opened his mouth to respond Dana exited the building. Logan rushed over to her, grabbed her arm and proceeded to drag her off to somewhere secluded.

"What took you so long? We have less than a minute to get somewhere," Logan reprimanded as he loosened his grip on Dana's upper arm since she seemed willing to go wherever he was headed.

"Maybe because we have two minutes genius," Dana returned, but kept going along with Logan anyway. Before they got too far Dana yelled back to Chase, "Don't get caught staring when she's looking."

Logan broke into a jog because an alarm on his phone went off signaling that the twenty four hours were officially up. Or at least that's what Dana assumed it meant as she joined him in hurrying somewhere to get a few minutes alone before the bell rang.

Chase stood looking completely befuddled. Zoey's going to be looking down at him there? So that would mean that Dana told her that he was down there. But did that mean that she knew the entire noticing that she hasn't been eating and bringing her food thing was his doing? Well, he had a pretty good idea of what Dana was currently doing and he really didn't want to catch sight of it so he decided he would be confused for now.

But he had been standing by himself outside her building for a minute and he hadn't looked up, but he really wanted to. To catch a glimpse of her, to know that she had voluntarily looked his way despite how much he had recently hurt her, it was just too tempting.

* * *

After Dana left, Zoey stayed on the couch for a minute. She didn't know if she wanted to look. She hated thinking about any of this mess, of him; it was so much easier to work herself exhausted and ignore everything else. 

Knowing he was there, she couldn't resist. She got up from the couch and went to the edge of the window and hid behind the curtain. She hesitated but peaked around just in time to see Dana getting dragged away by Logan and Dana yelling something to Chase. She thought Dana said he was staring at the building, but now he was looking at the ground and all she could see was the top of his bushy head. She missed him. She wished this could all just be over. That she could go downstairs, throw herself in his arms, tell him she didn't care anymore, and have it all go away. And she figured it probably would all go away for a while. But what happens a week from now, or a month, when he tells her something and she wonders if she can believe him? Because he's already lying about something and what if it's not just one thing?

He looked up suddenly and for the briefest of seconds he caught her looking, but she quickly jumped away from the window. She couldn't handle this now. Zoey found the number she had been looking for and dialed, "Hello, I'm calling from Pacific Coast Academy and I was wondering if you have any speakers available to talk at an upcoming assembly?"

Chase stayed outside the building until the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. For the briefest of moments as he saw her looking at him his hope was renewed. But she left so quickly. He just had to figure something out to make them okay again, he had to.

* * *

Dana returned to her room for the first time all afternoon just before dinner to find Lola, Nicole, and Quinn just about to head out. 

"We don't want to know where you were do we?" Lola asked knowing perfectly well exactly who her roommate had been off with all afternoon.

"Probably not," Dana replied as she tossed her bag haphazardly to the floor by her bed.

"Coming to dinner?" Quinn questioned as the girls got up from the couch, setting their homework aside.

"Yep," Dana replied as she quickly ran a brush through her hair. As she did so a mark could be seen on her neck, but since she wasn't in front of a mirror as she did it, she didn't notice.

Lola, however, who was slower at exiting the room because she was slipping back into her sandals, did notice. "That's so gross," she commented.

"What?" Dana asked confused and looking down at her clothes thinking that she had gotten something on them.

"The hickey on your neck," Lola said as she headed to the hall where Nicole and Quinn were waiting.

"The what, where?" Dana said marching over to the mirror and suddenly looking completely irate. As she caught sight of it her anger only increased as she yelled, "That son of a bi-"

The girls were cut off from hearing Dana's explicative by Lola shutting the door and commenting, "I think she's going to need another minute."

But the door re-opened to reveal a very pissed off looking Dana, "Tell Chase that Zoey knows lunch was from him and that he seems to be on the right track."

"You're not going to dinner?" Nicole asked.

"No, I'm going to go get revenge," Dana replied as she headed for the stairs.

"Have fun," Lola called out.

"Oh, I will," Dana swore as she waved and turned the corner and headed down stairs.

* * *

Normally Nicole enjoyed gossip, but after three days and three meals each day of mindless gossip, she was getting really tired of it; especially since they just seemed to be repeating the same stuff because nothing new happened. As they recounted the same gossip yet again, Nicole was keeping herself amused by giving in to the song she had stuck in her head. Nicole was starting to get so into the singing going on in her head she was almost dancing in her seat as the words, "Love me, love me, say that you love me," played in her head. 

"Lovefool" was interrupted when a reason to pay attention arose. It started when Tiffany was talking about some senior and how she was looking puffy these days and she suspected that the girl was pregnant (which she had already said at every single other meal). While Nicole had a song playing in her head to keep her looking alert, Lara wasn't as lucky. Lara yawned while Tiffany was talking and unfortunately for her, Tiffany noticed.

Tiffany stopped mid-sentence and asked, "I'm sorry, are we boring you?"

"No, no, of course not. I was just…" Lara quickly denied and tried to come up with something to protect herself.

Tiffany let Lara sweat trying to come up with a lie for a minute before she said, "Oh don't bother. It's alright; you're free to be tired. But don't worry, you'll find plenty of time to relax and sleep now that you're off the team."

No one was really shocked since Lara was the sixth girl to get kicked off since Monday. Bette Lilith had gotten kicked off because she wore the same headband she was wearing during the day Tuesday to dinner Tuesday night and Tiffany had said that they were to change for dinner, hair wear included. And Bria got kicked off the team having an ink stain on the shirt she wore to lunch earlier that day. It was just a dot of ink and if she knew it was there she wouldn't have shown up in it, but Jenna noticed the spot, told Tiffany and Tiffany cut her.

"Hand in your uniform in the morning," Tiffany told Lara as she got up and left the table.

Nicole envied Lara as she left to sit with her friends; she looked so much happier all of a sudden. Nicole had always wanted to be a cheerleader, but maybe it wasn't really worth it when Tiffany was captain.

* * *

Concurrently, the group was once again eating in almost silence. Lola had relayed Dana's message to Chase, but other than that there wasn't much talking. Chase seemed distracted, thinking. Dana and Logan had yet to show up. Apparently getting her revenge was taking some time. And Lola, Quinn, and Michael briefly tried to make conversation talking about classes, but with the continued absence of Zoey and Nicole clearly suffering across the way, there was a cloud of hopelessness hanging over the group. 

After Chase quietly left the table conversation perked up a bit when Quinn revealed that she had figured out a way for Michael and Lola's video blog to work. They didn't quite understand it, but apparently since the entire school was connected on the same network, Quinn set up the site so that anyone from the network couldn't get in without knowing how to get around her block, which she set up so her computer could get around it (since she was the one who arranged all of it) and she said she'd fix Lola's to get around the block too. They decided not to allow Michael's computer into it since sometimes either Chase or Logan would end up using his and they didn't want them to know.

The rest of the evening was spent with Chase thinking alone, Dana getting her revenge on Logan, Lola and Michael listening to Quinn explain how the site she set up for them worked as she fixed Lola's computer to get through the block on the site, Zoey still working furiously alone in her room, and Nicole secretly meeting with a few fellow cheerleads in one of their rooms as they all complained about Tiffany.

* * *

Thursday morning Logan woke up to find exactly what Dana's revenge for him breaking their no mark rule was. 

As Logan stretched in his bed after his alarm went off (later than both Chase's and Michael's), Chase pointed out to him, "That is one enormous hickey."

Logan pulled a large mirror out of his desk drawer next to his bed and admired the mark. He explained, "Yep. I kind of broke a rule and left a mark on Dana because I figured she'd think that doing this to me was revenge, like I care though. I enjoyed every minute of it. And it just keeps up my reputation of being completely irresistible. She did exactly what I wanted her to, she's so predictable."

As Logan got up and grabbed his shower tote and a towel to head to the bathroom, Chase noticed that Logan had yet to find out what Dana's real revenge was. He tried not to laugh as he informed, "You might want to take a look at the back of your hair Casanova."

Logan rushed and grabbed his mirror again, turned around in front of the full length mirror and noticed that Dana had taken a chunk out of his hair. It was near the ends and it was easily evened out looking completely fixed and just like he got a hair cut, but he really didn't appreciate that she was why he suddenly had to cut his hair.

Dana appeared at his side on the way to breakfast and she was quick to comment, "Hey Satan, nice hair."

She gave his hair a ruffle but he was quick to swat her arm away as he asked, "So we're back to Satan?"

Dana nodded and placed her hands on her hips as she replied, "I'd say so. You did manage to break three simple rules in three days. What, are you challenged?"

"No. I'm just trying to have some fun, but apparently you don't know the meaning of the word because you went crazy on my hair with some scissors," Logan yelled.

"That was fun," Dana said with a smirk. She took a large confident step towards Logan closing most of the space between them and said looking up to meet his still angry eyes, "And if you really didn't find me to be any fun, then you would have noticed when I gave you your hair cut."

Between the sultry defiant way she spoke and her now close proximity, Logan's anger turned into lust. He said in a low voice, "Let's go to the library."

Dana smirked because this was exactly the response she was going for. She decided to have some fun though and challenge him asking, "What about breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry," Logan resolved, his voice still low, his gaze on her still intense and filled with desire.

"I am," Dana countered, not willing to give in just yet.

Logan stared at her for a second. She had to be screwing with him, right? How could she possibly turn him down? He decided to stay confident and say, "Then I guess you'll be eating a big lunch."

Wow. He really wasn't familiar with rejection. But Dana didn't really want to get him acquainted with the feeling now. She gave in, "I guess I will."

Logan and Dana didn't make it to breakfast that morning. A statement Lola made expressed everyone's lack of shock about their absence. In regards to their absence she said, "Raise your hand if you saw that coming." Quinn, Michael, and Chase briefly shot an arm into the air as they continued to eat and besides some complaining about classes that was the extent of conversation for yet another meal.

* * *

Dana and Logan were back with the gang by the time breakfast was ending, as was Nicole. The girls headed to the bathroom together before class and Nicole told them about her breakfast, where two more girls were cut from the team. 

"Meredith wore a green shirt today and Tiffany told her that we weren't allowed to wear green on Thursdays. That doesn't make any sense, but most of the rules don't, but also, I swear that's not in the rules. I have like ten pages of rules written down. I made sure I got all of them and I've memorized most of them and it's not a rule she just cut her. Then Carlita decided to stand up for her and said that it was completely unfair. Tiffany asked her if she had a problem with it. Carlita said yes. So Tiffany cut her. Insane, right? I mean, we started out on Monday with fifteen people on the team and now there's eight of us," Nicole rambled.

"Alright, its official, I'm gonna hit her," Dana declared.

"Don't you dare," Nicole begged even though she knew it was probably a lost cause.

"Nicole don't worry about it. I can totally out bitch her," Dana said as she checked her hair in the mirror.

"Oh I don't doubt that you could out bitch anyone," Nicole joked good naturedly making Dana, Lola, and Quinn laugh.

Dana added seriously, "Maybe you should be the one to do something about her extreme cruelty though. I mean, I'd enjoy hitting her, but you'd probably enjoy it more since you're one of the people she's been causing suffering for."

"It probably wouldn't even hurt her if I hit her," Nicole commented knowing that a lifetime of believing that violence was never the solution couldn't have possibly resulted in her actually being able to hit and hurt someone.

"It would if I teach you how to punch," Dana said and decided, "and today I swear I won't hurt Tiffany, but tonight I'm teaching you how to punch and if you decide she's gone too far at some point, you'll be prepared."

Despite the messages television and movies tried to give her, Nicole truly didn't believe that violence was ever a solution to a problem. Then again, they didn't start calling her Tiffany the Terrible for nothing. She decided maybe it'd be a good idea to learn how to hit, just in case she ever needed it. She agreed, "Okay. I guess that'd be a good idea."

* * *

After what felt like forever, lunch eventually came. Chase wanted to bring Zoey lunch again, just to make sure she got something, but no one seemed willing to take food up for him. He didn't understand what was going on and why they were turning him down. But when Nicole told him that when she stopped at their room Zoey was eating a banana, he stopped trying to figure out why they wouldn't help them since he decided not send her food because she was apparently taking care of that on her own. But he sat outside her building for the entire lunch period anyway, because even if she didn't need him, he needed her and this was as close as he could get right now. 

Logan and Dana did actually show up to lunch since they were quite hungry after skipping breakfast. Even with two members of the gang back though, lunch was yet again quiet and uneventful.

Thankfully lunch was uneventful for Nicole as well. Tiffany managed to go the entire forty minutes without making any cuts and Nicole left lunch incredibly relieved.

After school ended Dana was supposed to be heading to her usual destination, the library, but when she saw Tiffany across the quad she decided a detour was necessary. She had promised Nicole that she wouldn't hit Tiffany, but that didn't mean she couldn't offer some friendly advice. And in her mind, by advice she meant threaten, and by friendly she meant forcefully.

Unusually, Tiffany was by herself when Dana stepped into her path. Tiffany looked at her with disdain and asked, "Do I know you?"

"No, but you're going to become very well acquainted with my fist if you continue with your frequent acts of bitchery," Dana promised with a tight smile.

Getting threatened wasn't really new to Tiffany so she ignored what Dana claimed and said, "Actually I do know who you are. You're that slutty girl that's been all over Logan Reese. I used to think he had _some_ standards, but I guess he got rid of all of them since he's with you."

To say Dana was pissed was an understatement. First the girl calls her slutty. But then she has the audacity to say she was with Logan! That was the last straw. Screw her promise to Nicole, Dana yelled seething with anger and started to charge at Tiffany, "Oh, that's it. You-"

Suddenly someone grabbed Dana around the waist with one arm and held her hands back with the other as she was quickly heading in Tiffany's direction. She looked up to see in whose arms it was that she was struggling to break free from so she could beat the blond bitch. It was Logan. He was on his way to meet her and caught what was going on and decided he needed to step in. "Whoa, whoa, calm down there Rocky," Logan said to Dana who was kicking and wiggling her entire upper body in an attempt to break free from him.

Tiffany rolled her eyes, as if she was bored with the entire scene. "Keep a tighter leash on your whore Logan," she said scathingly before she turned and walked away.

Dana struggled harder as she yelled, "Oh, you are going to be so sorry when I get free!"

She would have yelled more, but Logan was whispering into her ear, "She's not worth it. Our fun is going to be really limited if you're spending all your afternoons in detention because you hospitalized Tiffany."

Dana calmed down a bit and stopped struggling from his grip as she declared because he made a good point and that ruined her getting even, "You suck."

"No. But I hear Tiffany does and that's why she's so popular with guys…or at least that's going to be the rumor I'll be starting in the locker room tomorrow morning. She's going to start getting propositioned by every guy, perverty guys especially," Logan quickly thought of, making sure that revenge was gotten on Tiffany for what she called Dana, but not in any way that would get Dana in trouble.

Dana smiled in appreciation and said, "Alright." She thought because she had agreed not to go after Tiffany, Logan would release her, but he didn't. She was about to question him when he threw her over his shoulder and headed for his dorm.

"Logan put me down," she ordered.

"Um, no," he said pretending to consider it first.

"You realize that from the way you're carrying me I can kick you in a very sensitive area and I will if you don't put me down right now," Dana promised.

"And if you do that then I'll drop you either face first or ass first onto the asphalt," Logan countered.

Realizing that they weren't heading to the library, Dana questioned, "Where are you taking me?"

"My room is empty. Chase and Michael are working on a project for media in the media lab," Logan explained.

Dana didn't argue anymore and surrendered to the fact that sort of like a cave man would do, she was being dragged off to Logan's cave. And really all he had to do was tell her, she would have gone willingly.

* * *

While Dana and Logan spent the afternoon enjoying his empty room, after Chase and Michael finished their project, they head their separate ways and not to the room to disturb the pair. 

Chase headed to his and Zoey's spot by the lake. Though it hadn't gone well, it was the last place they talked. He didn't want to tell her the truth anymore now than he had when they were in this spot on Sunday and she was yelling and crying. Oh God, he could barely stand to think of it. He wasn't ready to tell her and he absolutely could not tell her just to end a fight, but he had to figure something out, he needed her back, he needed her. Chase stayed at the lake until dinner when he left, got takeout, and came back for a few more hours. It had been dark out for a long while before Chase finally left and when he did, he still hadn't come up with a way to fix things with Zoey.

Michael spent the afternoon with Lola. They decided to start filming. They didn't really act anything out; it was more of an introduction to the four they planned on talking about and a bit of history and the current situations. Quinn had set up a link for their site on youtube and made it so that a view count was kept to how many times each video was watched. They posted it just before they went to dinner and were surprised that when they came back an hour later, it had ten views.

Nicole spent her afternoon trying to finish her homework because she liked to be able to focus solely on _Grey's Anatomy_, which was airing a new episode in just a few short hours. Once she realized it was Thursday she even put off Dana teaching her some fighting moves. Normally nothing could ruin Nicole's excitement and pleasure at the prospect of watching an hour of McDreamy, McSteamy, and Alex who she decided was McHot. Today, however, after managing to get through another dinner with Tiffany the Terrible, she was approached by the hellion herself.

Tiffany approached her as she was walking back to her dorm and said quickly, "You haven't gotten yourself thrown off the team yet, but if you don't keep your friends in line better then you'll be cut. You're on very thin ice, I doubt you'll survive."

Tiffany left Nicole as quickly as she came, but despite the briefness of the encounter it was enough to ruin Nicole's night. How was she supposed to enjoy the nice eye candy on _Grey's Anatomy_ when she was paranoid about screwing up and being humiliatingly kicked off the team?

* * *

Friday morning Tiffany had a brief encounter of her own. She was by herself on her way to breakfast. She like to arrive to all the meals before all the other girls so that they knew that she knew how close they cut it to get there on time. But as she headed to the cafeteria she was stopped by someone grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face them. It was John Ely and he definitely didn't look happy. 

"I haven't so much as looked at a single girl on your team. I've stayed away, so why haven't you stopped this?" John questioned not removing the hand he had gripped around her upper arm. He thought if he did what she wanted she wouldn't mess with their parent's relationship and she wouldn't be cruel like she had said she would do if he continued talking to Nicole or any of the other girls on the team.

"I'll stop when I want to stop," Tiffany retorted. She glanced down to his hand still grasping her arm and bit out as she roughly ripped it from his hand, "Don't ever touch me again." And she walked into the cafeteria, got her food, and sat down at her table she didn't do anything out of the ordinary, she didn't let herself. But as she repeated the now mundane gossip she could still feel where his hand had been, and in the back of her mind, it was all she could think of.

* * *

During homeroom Chase noticed that Zoey was more exhausted than she had been usually and more than she had been earlier in the week. She yawned eight times. If she hadn't slept well she would yawn maybe once or twice during homeroom, before her coffee began to kick in. If she had been working really hard on lots of things, like she had been lately, then she would yawn maybe five times. But this morning it was eight times, and it worried Chase. Everything was his fault. She wasn't eating, she wasn't sleeping, she wasn't…Zoey. He had to fix her, them, and he had to do it today, because another day and what would she become? He decided he needed to be alone to think so he spent lunch in their spot again, hoping clarity would suddenly strike. 

Meanwhile, lunch at the cafeteria turned out to be quite the event.

It all started about ten minutes after all the cheerleaders (only eight remaining) sat down to lunch together. Tiffany took gossip in a new direction because she was tired of Nicole not doing anything to get herself kicked off the team. Tiffany paid attention and she knew what to say. She began, "Have you seen our class president lately? She looks horrible. And she hasn't been hanging out with that bushy haired kid. You're friends with them, right Nicole? What's going on?"

"Nothing really, they'll be back to normal by the end of the day, I'm sure of it," Nicole answered trying to prevent her friends from becoming gossip by acting like nothing interesting was going on.

"But why aren't they normal now?" Tiffany pressed on.

"You know it was so uninteresting I don't even remember," Nicole lied, which she wasn't particularly good at. She had an obviously fake smile plastered on and her eyes were much wider than anything that could possibly be considered normal.

"Everyone can tell that there's something going on, just tell us or I may be forced to make it up and spread it around," Tiffany threatened.

Gosh, being around Tiffany was like having a huge pimple or cold sore on the night of the biggest dance of the year. And if she still knew Tiffany when that dance eventually rolled around and she did actually have that problem, the bitch would probably steal her concealer. There was no way Nicole was going to a dance with an uncovered blemish. Her week absolutely sucked, and it was time to get rid of the girl that made it that way. Just the thought of finally being able to say what she really thought to Tiffany had her smiling before she began, "You know what Tiffany? Go ahead. If your cheers are any indication, then you don't have an imagination so I'm sure whatever you make up will suck."

That caught the attention of not only all the girls at the table (who didn't know who Chase or Zoey were so had no interest in the previous conversation), but all immediately adjacent tables as well.

"Excuse me?" Tiffany questioned. She ran into the occasional girl like Dana that would tell her off, but one that she thought she had under her thumb, that never happened. She was completely shocked and increasingly angry as it set in exactly what was happening.

Erica, who was sitting next to Nicole and likewise fed up with all of Tiffany's crap, muttered, "According to what I heard she's really familiar with sucking."

"What?" Tiffany asked shooting daggers at Erika.

Nicole stood up and said, "What I think she's trying to say is the same thing as me. I'm going to go eat with my friends. Have fun cheering by yourself tonight." Nicole had picked up her purse and her tray while she was talking, but as she was about to leave she realized she was wearing her uniform and she should just turn it in now so she wouldn't have to see Tiffany again. She walked her stuff over to her usual table with the gang, who were watching her in awe because this was a side of Nicole they didn't know, and asked, "Michael can I borrow your hoodie?" Michael handed it over and they all watched as Nicole put it on (and luckily it fell about mid-thigh) and slipped out of her cheer uniform underneath. She marched it back over to Tiffany's table, which only had her, Jenna, and Morgan left since the other girls followed her initial example and left. Nicole dropped her uniform on the table and said, "Here's your uniform back. I didn't want you to have to wait."

It was like a slap in the face, without literally getting slapped in the face. And there were so many people watching, everyone would undoubtedly hear the story of what happened. Five girls walked away from Tiffany, and one who stayed wished she had somewhere to walk to so she could leave too, but she didn't, so Morgan stayed.

As Nicole was once again surrounded by her friends, Dana was telling her that she had never been prouder of her, and she was getting random "that was awesome"'s from fellow students, Tiffany's lunch was just getting worse. It was nearing the end of lunch so she decided if she left in may not seem like it was just out of pure humiliation. She grabbed her purse and her tray as she stood up, but when she turned around she encountered John Ely for the second time that day.

She ignored him and walked towards the trash can to dump and leave her tray, but he talked to her back as she did so, "Looks like you got what you deserved. You can't just force people into doing whatever you want. People won't just take crap from you because you're pretty and popular. Try being a little nicer, try being a little more like Nicole…or any of the other girls who were smart enough to walk away from you."

He said pretty and popular like they were such horrible things when associated with her. And she definitely didn't need to get lectured from him. It's not like he was that great. Oh, and Nicole, how nice of him to bring her up. What did he even see in her anyway? That was the final straw. She dumped and set down her tray, turned around, grabbed John by the face and crushed her lips against his for all of three seconds. Before he could even question her or continue with the lecture he had seemed intent on giving her, she said with a glance to the side at Nicole who was a hundred or so yards away at the table with the gang, "She's not going to want you now. I always win, remember that."

Tiffany walked away like nothing happened while John stood disappointed and oblivious. He was disappointed because he knew she was right. Like Nicole would want him when she just saw him kissing the girl that tortured her. And he didn't even kiss her back, not that there was time even if he wanted to, which he didn't, but that wasn't the point. It looked like he kissed Tiffany and any chance he had with Nicole was all but gone. And he didn't even know if he really liked her, but he thought he could. What he didn't notice as he stood in defeat or anytime later when he thought back on the event was that in kissing him at the cafeteria that day, Tiffany broke two of her rules (how he wasn't allowed to touch her and they couldn't be seen together in public). And if he had thought about it maybe the most logical conclusion would have been that Tiffany was willing to do anything to get what she wanted (him unhappy). It may have been the logical conclusion, but not necessarily the right one.

Tiffany would act and would tell herself that what she did was nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary because she always made sure she got what she wanted. And nothing important because he was nothing. But she knew she was wrong. He wasn't that great, really, but she moronically found herself liking him anyway. Why couldn't her dad marry someone without any kids? Or someone with daughters and not a hot son around her age? And all she could think was how he didn't kiss her back. That never happened to her. If it was just some random guy then it wouldn't really matter, but he wasn't some random guy, and it mattered. Everyone was always calling her heartless and she never cared that they did, but right now she really wished that they were right, maybe then she wouldn't care that when she essentially threw herself at him, he didn't care. And she wished that she was heartless because the guilt was starting to rise up and gnaw at the pit of her stomach, and his face and the completely defeated look dawning on it as she left was starting to haunt her. She hated that she felt, but as far as everyone else knew, she never did. And despite the current feelings she was having, she would act like nothing was different, because she didn't want it to be and clearly neither did he.

* * *

Though Chase spent lunch away from the gang thinking and praying for a solution, one never came to him. He needed to think of a solution, but he also needed to make sure that Zoey got some food. So after classes ended he picked up a few things and started calling his friends, only they kept saying that they wouldn't deliver the food. Something was going on. He called them all back and asked them to meet him and since most of the girls were already together in Lola and Dana's room, they all met over there. They were going to have to make it rather quick though as Michael had to leave for an away game. 

As soon as everyone arrived Chase got right to the point, "Okay, why isn't anyone willing to help anymore?"

"It's not that we don't want to help," Michael began, "we just don't want to be your go between anymore, because if we let it continue, how long will all of this continue?"

Chase understood it, but it wasn't like he was asking them to do that much, "But I just need someone to drop off food. It's not a big deal."

"Yet," added Lola.

"Well then what do you suggest I do? Come on one of you must have answers right? I mean you know to do this so you must know how to make things okay! You think I want things to be this way? This has been the worst week of my life and I don't want it to continue, but I don't know how to make it stop," Chase yelled frustrated. He sank down in one of the overstuffed chairs and sighed.

An uneasy silence settled over the room for a couple of minutes until suddenly Nicole said, "You should drink a glass of fat!" She was smiling and practically bouncing out of her seat on the couch with excitement. And from the look on her face she thought that everyone would know what she was talking about, but noticing the confused looks around her she explained, "Like Ross was going to do for Rachel. It showed her that he really cared. All we have to do is find a glass of fat and then you have to drink it."

Everyone, Chase included, seemed to be considering the idea until Dana declared, "No, you shouldn't do that."

"Yes he should, it's perfect," Nicole countered.

"No, it's not because he's not Ross. Ross spent what? A decade in love with Rachel before they got together the first time? Yeah, Chase do you want to spend seven and a half more years in love with her without telling her?"

"No," Chase quickly answered. He didn't want to tell her now, like this, but he wanted to tell her eventually and when he thought of eventually it was never that long.

"Then you're not Ross. Though you do have weird hair like him," Dana added offhand, which earned a chuckle from Logan and cause her to take a few steps forward from where she was standing by her bed, to the overstuffed chair Logan was sitting in across from Chase, and hit him in the arm. As Logan rubbed his arm, Dana paced causally as she continued, "No, you're not Ross, you're Lloyd Dobler. You've seen _Say Anything_, right?"

"Um, yeah, I think so," Chase answered hesitantly, trying to remember the movie.

"John Cusack is Lloyd, he goes after this really smart and pretty girl Diane Court. Everyone tells him she'll never go for him and she's completely out of his league, but he asks her out anyway and she says yes and in the end he gets the girl," Dana quickly summarized.

Chase remembered the movie and recalled, "But she breaks up with him."

"And goes back to him," Dana says figuring the latter to be the more important. But either way it wasn't the point. The point she was trying to make was, "And you're Lloyd, guy in love with a girl who is smart and pretty. Zoey is your Diane Court. But what you haven't been getting is that you're her Lloyd Dobler." Everyone seemed confused, Dana asked, "Does no one else know this movie? It's a Cameron Crowe classic."

The blank stares persisted. The only person that felt they had anything to say was Logan, who seemed to feel it was his duty to point out, "Sounds like a chick flick, which is a good reason not to watch it."

In her pacing between her bed and near the chair Chase was sitting in, Dana happened to be coming up behind Logan and smacked him upside his head as she passed and admonished, "Shut up if you don't have anything helpful to say." She knew he'd want to retort so she quickly got back to her point, "So here's what you being Lloyd to Zoey's Diane means. You're the guy for her. You're not the guy anyone would expect to see her with, but you're the one she wants and needs, you make her feel good about herself. Maybe it's just as a friend right now, but we all know it's going to be something more later even if you're not so sure. So right now you need to be Lloyd and say anything to get the girl, because all you have to do is say something, anything, and you'll have her."

"I don't think-" Chase began, but was cut off.

Lola jumped in cutting him off, "No, she's right. I mean, I only vaguely remember the movie, but she's right. You're Zoey's Lloyd. And all you have to do is talk to Zoey and tell her the truth and then you'll be fine."

"I can't tell her I love her just to end-" Chas began, but was cut off again.

"They didn't say that," Michael said cutting him off since he finally started to get what was being said. He explained, "You're not ready to tell Zoey you love her and that's the truth. So you don't need to tell Zoey you love her, but you need to make her understand why you can't tell her what you wrote and hid from her with the tekmate and why you've continued to hide it from her. It's so simple, we should have thought of it sooner."

Chase thought about it for a second, but, "Why would that make everything better? It doesn't sound like enough, not after what I've done."

"It will make everything better because she's had a horrible week too. She misses you too and she wants you back too," Lola claimed, but Chase didn't believe her.

He pointed out, "Then why won't she even answer any of my calls?"

"To her cell?" Nicole asked.

"Yeah," Chase replied.

Nicole smiled as she informed Chase, "She lost her cell while we were setting up for the dance on Saturday. She didn't notice it missing until Sunday night and she's been checking lost and found every day for it, but it hasn't turned up. Why haven't you called our room phone?"

"You unplugged it three weeks ago when you were complaining about getting a bunch of telemarketing calls," Chase answered, relieved that all of his unanswered calls hadn't been her avoiding him.

"Oh, right," Nicole said remembering and thinking that they should really plug their phone back in.

"Okay, so go take advice from Lloyd and tell her how you feel, the truth, and it will all be okay," Dana concluded.

Chase seemed to be considering it, so Michael added, "For Zoey, it's worth a try, isn't it?"

Yes. It absolutely was. Chase knew that immediately and said, "Alright, I'll tell her the truth."

"Everything's going to be great," Nicole assured.

"But change your shirt, that's not the best one. Um, maybe something red? Or blue?" Lola suggested.

"You'll do fine man, it'll be alright, you've got this," Michael encouraged.

While everyone else was saying something supportive to Chase, Logan, well, he didn't like to be like everyone else. He commented, "What? Are we all going to break into song next? I feel like I'm on _7__th__ Heaven_. And this is boorring." Logan drawled out boring making himself extra annoying.

"Then leave," Dana said as she moved to hit him for his remarks, but he caught her hand, stood up and announced another idea.

"Nope. This could be fun if we play twenty minutes in heaven, let's get started," Logan said as he quickly crossed the small room and yanked Dana into her closet with him and shut the door.

"Logan!" she yelled and Nicole began to say something about how she thought it was seven minutes, but was interrupted by something very disturbing happening. Dana giggled. It wasn't new to Logan's ears, not that he really paid attention enough to notice, but it was new to everyone else, and to think of what Logan could possibly be doing to elicit that kind of response from her. Well, all of them were really sorry that that was the thought now going through their minds.

Michael was the first to break them from the nauseating thoughts that the noises coming from the closet were causing them to have by announcing as he stood up, "Now, I'm glad it's time for me to leave. That's just unnatural."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they began to wish him luck at his away game, which none of them could go to because they didn't drive.

After wishing him luck, Nicole also had a request, "Tell me absolutely everything about what happens with Tiffany. I mean if you're playing and you don't notice that's okay, but I just really wish I could be there to witness how stupid she's going to look with just two other girls out their cheering for our side."

"Don't worry; I'm bringing my video camera so you can see it all. And if I'm playing, then I'll just have one of the other guys hold it," Michael informed.

Nicole rushed over to him at the door and threw her arms around his neck hugging him in thanks as she said, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're the best."

"It's no problem," Michael responded as Nicole finally let him go (and breathe again), he shrugged and added, "It should be entertaining and all of you should get to see it, so since you can't go I'll just bring the entertainment back to you."

Everyone bid him farewell and Michael left for his game. Chase also left, he would have just grabbed the bag of food and headed across the hall, but Lola's comment about his wardrobe reminded him of something so he headed back to his room to change. The girls, who had planned on hanging out in Lola and Dana's room, also quickly exited, thoroughly disturbed by what they knew was going on in the closet.

* * *

After Chase had changed into his flannel shirt, he headed back to Zoey's building. But as soon as he got there he turned around and walked back to his building because he had left the bag of food he had for her in his room. Once he got it, he walked back to her building again and stopped in front of it. 

_Tell her not to go  
I ain't holding on no more  
Tell her something in my mind freezes up from time to time_

Chase was more than a little bit nervous. His hand even shook as she reached out to pull open the door to the building. But he forced himself to open it and he forced himself to go inside.

_Tell her not to cry  
I just got scared that's all  
Tell her Ill be by her side, all she has to do is call_

He needed to go inside and he needed to make sure that she knew that hurting her was the last thing he ever wanted to do. He needed her to know how much he hated the past five days, and how much he missed her. He needed to make sure she knew that he was there for her always, even if she didn't want him to be.

_Tell her the chips are down  
I drank too much and shouted it aloud  
Tell her something in my heart  
Needs her more than even clowns need the laughter of the crowd_

He made his way up the stairs and worried about telling her the truth. They all told him that it was what she wanted and needed to hear, and he hoped that it was enough. Right now, there was more distance between them than two flights of stairs and fifty feet of hallway, and Chase despised the distance, he needed it to be gone so he could be okay again. And he hoped if it was gone she would be Zoey again too.

_Tell her what was wrong  
I sometimes think to much  
But say nothing at all  
And tell her from this high terrain, I am ready now to fall_

He was on her floor now and he could see her door. He turned around and stopped. The stairs were before him again and he contemplated going back downstairs, going back to his room, putting off telling her. He wanted to tell her, but at the same time he was so incredibly terrified that the outcome wouldn't be anything he hoped for, but his greatest fear instead. It was a lot like his fear of telling her that he loved her; he had never done it out of fear of losing her. He turned back around and slowly started walking down the hallway towards her door, because he needed her back, he needed to tell her.

_Tell her not to go  
I ain't holding on no more  
Tell her nothing if not this; all I want to do is kiss her_

He raised his hand to the door and paused. He prayed that the past five days would never repeat themselves and that he would never feel like he lost her again. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

_Tell her something in my mind_

_Freezes up from time to time_

Seconds later he was face to face with a surprised Zoey.

After almost half a minute of awkward silence Chase managed to find his voice and say, "There's something I need to tell you."

* * *

"What's going on?" Lola asked from her couch as she grabbed for another piece of pizza. Chase had actually taken quite a while to work up the courage to talk to Zoey. It had been an hour and a half and in that time the girls had gone to hang out at the pizza place, ended up getting a pizza, and brought it back to their room to find nothing racy going on anymore. 

The question was directed at Nicole who was lying flat on her stomach on the floor in front of the door looking through the crack underneath towards her door right across the hall. She replied, "He's in." She jumped up excited and clapped her hands.

"Are you sure it was him?" Quinn questioned.

"I'm positive. Those were totally his shoes," Nicole replied with certainty as she sat back down in her place between Lola and Quinn on the coach. Dana and Logan were each sitting in the over stuffed chairs that were across from each other and had the couch set back in between and the coffee table directly in between them. When the girls came back they had found them that far apart and somewhat disinterestedly staring at the television and Dana was prompt to ask them where they had been since she thought they were all hanging out for the night. They decided not to ask questions about whatever was going on, it's not like they'd get real answers out of them anyway.

On Friday nights ABC re-ran the previous _Grey's Anatomy_, and upon Nicole's insistence, that's what the group of girls and Logan were watching. Mostly they were enjoying it, except for Logan. It was fifteen minutes into the show and he voiced his seventh complaint, (which was a repeat of his first), "These women aren't really hot. I mean, the blond is okay, but why the hell are all these guys interested in the leather faced one? In reality, guys who look like them don't go for girls like her, I know because I'm one of them."

"Shh!" Nicole hushed him.

"You just watched this yesterday, why are we watching it again now?" Logan's question was ignored so he continued, "Oh, his sister is visiting, who cares?" When that didn't get a reaction, Logan decided to channel his two year old self, "I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored. I'm bored."

Logan continued his annoying repetition for twenty seconds with Dana telling him to shut up, Nicole repeating her "Shh", until Lola finally said, "Dana, just do something to shut him up."

"Why do I have to do something?" Dana asked thought he was really getting on her nerves now and she knew in another minute she would be doing something, anything to get him to stop. The idea that was sounding the best was forcibly dragging him out of the room and locking him out.

"Because you're the one that makes out with him," Nicole answered.

Dana rolled her eyes but got up anyway. He was being annoying so she really didn't want to give in and do something he'd really like, but she needed to do something to distract him so he'd be quiet and they could keep watching. She sat down tentatively on the edge of his legs. "Better?" She asked with a glance back to him.

He stopped his trip back to the terrible twos and simply shrugged, but stayed quiet.

The girls all turned their attention back to the screen and Dr. Mark Sloan, but when it went to commercial break less than a minute latter the pair sitting in the chair was in a very different position. Initially and not long ago, Dana had been perched on Logan's knees with quite a bit of space between them. Her arms were crossed across her waist because she wasn't happy about having to do something so he'd shut up. And Logan's hands were on either arm rest. But now, Dana had sunk back into him both of them looking completely relaxed and natural with Dana's head resting on the cushion of the chair above Logan's left shoulder, which left their heads awfully close together. And now Dana's arms were at her sides and her left arm was having lines and circles lazily drawn into it by Logan's left arm. They seemed oblivious to the change, but the other three in the room were very aware.

* * *

Zoey had stepped back from her door and let Chase in and paused and thought as he entered. Should he sit? Should he stand? And for either one, where? He decided to sit on the couch and was relieved when Zoey followed him and sat down on the other end. 

His leg nervously started bouncing up and down and he placed a hand on it to try and get it to stop. He cleared his throat and began, "Zoey, you're my best friend and there's something that you need to know, but I can't tell you. I've hated this week and I hate that we're not talking and I hate that me not being able to tell you has hurt you, but I can't tell you. You're right, you should know and the truth is you're the only person I want to tell and the only person that I want to know what I've been hiding, but I'm not ready to tell you. And I've never told anyone, but by nothing that I wanted or did a lot of people did find out. And I want to tell you, I do, but I'm scared and I'm not ready. And I need you to understand that because I don't want to spend another minute with us fighting and not talking."

She didn't want to spend another minute fighting and not talking either. And he wore the flannel, for her. Okay, so it wasn't that he was hiding something from her because he didn't want her to know, he's just scared and he will tell her, right? She wanted to believe him, she wanted him back. She bit her lower lip for a second before she asked, "It's nothing bad, is it? I mean, when you're ready to tell me whatever it's not going to be that you're sick or something horrible?"

Chase smiled because it was the first time he heard her voice in five days. He replied, "No, it's definitely not bad. In fact, I'd say it's…the best thing about my life."

Zoey smiled and asked somewhat jokingly, "And it's not about coming out of some kind of closet?"

Chase laughed as he replied, "No, no. Definitely not."

Zoey sighed and got back to the seriousness of the conversation as she said quietly and meeting his eyes for the longest amount of time she had in five days, "You know you can tell me anything."

"I know, and I plan to. It's just…I'm probably being really stupid about this, but for some reason I'm just terrified and whenever I think of telling you I feel like throwing up. Can you imagine, I go to tell you and end up throwing up all over you, that probably wouldn't be good for our friendship," Chase said with a laugh.

Zoey smiled yet again. She wanted to believe him and she wanted to trust him and she was tired of missing him so she decided she believed him and trusted him and that he was telling her the truth. She didn't like that there was something that seemed really huge that he was afraid to tell her, but she didn't want her dislike of it to force him into telling her something when he wasn't ready. She checked, "You will tell me though, right?"

Chase smiled his crooked smile at her and promised, "Yes. I will tell you, swear on my life." And he meant it because right now and having her back; he couldn't imagine anything more perfect. He wanted it to last forever, to be near her for forever, and he knew that for that to have the possibility of happening he needed to tell her. And with her smiling at him like that he was feeling more confident about it already.

Not wanting things to get awkward and wanting things to go back to normal, Zoey decided to keep the conversation going, but change the topic because they were okay now and they didn't need to talk about it anymore. She eyed the bag on the floor by Chase and said, "That's a mighty big bag you brought with you, is it more sushi?"

"No," Chase answered as he reached for the bag and set it between them on the couch. He started to remove items and set them on the coffee table in front of them as he explained, "I brought you stuff to keep here so when you get stressed out and work on something too much, you'll have food around so you don't forget to eat. So I brought about ten cups of noodles, a pack of Oreos, five apples because I only buy fruit in prime numbers, weird, I know. Then I have some of those granola bars you like and banana chips. So mostly non-perishables except for the apples."

Zoey leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Chase in a hug, the empty paper bag squished between them. She closed her eyes and said, "Thank you, for everything."

Chase wrapped his arms around Zoey's waist and reveled in the rare feeling of having her close. He could smell the flowery scent of her shampoo and closed his eyes as he took her in. When she said thank you, he replied, "You know I'd do anything for you Zo."

And she did. Even when she hated that he was lying to her, she still knew he would be there for her if she needed him and he would do anything for her. He'd never talk to her again if that was what she wanted, but that could never be what she wanted.

She released him and once again tried to avoid awkwardness by talking, "So have you eaten? Do you want to dig into this with me?"

"I'd love to," Chase replied, incredibly relieved that everyone was right, that telling her the truth seemed to be just the thing to make everything okay.

As they ate Zoey told Chase about what had been keeping her so busy. He examined the binders and immediately started helping her out, though she had gotten most of it done on her own. Except for the winter formal. All of the other things she was asked to handle would happen first so she dealt with them first and now it was the end of the week and she hadn't gotten to planning the formal. She told Chase that she was hoping to get everything arranged that night and Saturday so that it could be announced on Monday and then they could still probably have it. Chase vetoed the idea. He told her she needed a break and that PCA would not be having the winter formal that Dean Rivers proposed at the last minute. Zoey started a counter argument, but Chase's demand that she relax and watch TV with him for the rest of the night won out.

* * *

Two hours after Grey's Anatomy ended Dana was still in the same place in Logan's lap, both of them still looking very comfortable. Somehow they had ended up watching _Shrek_ _2_, but really all the girls were listening for the door of the room across the hall. Nicole was getting particularly impatient and kept suggesting that she go over on the pretense of needing something since it was her room, but the other girls kept saying to give them a little more time. 

Suddenly Logan commented, "Why didn't they leave Cameron Diaz's character hot? This ogre her is so gross."

Then Dana got overly angry saying, "You're such an ass. You're completely missing the point and obsessing on physical appearance. God you're shallow. You ruin everything, don't you?" And then she got off his lap and stormed out.

The girls looked bewildered and Logan didn't look any less confused. They kept looking at him though and he knew what they were going to tell him so he got up and left because apparently he had something to apologize for, not that he did anything out of the ordinary, but that's girls for you.

As soon as Logan got out the door he stopped because Dana was leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway with a smirk on her face. Before he could ask her what was going on she had pushed him up against the wall next to the door to her room and kissed him, hard.

By the time she pulled away their breathing was quite labored. She explained, "I had to get you out here somehow."

And that was perfectly okay with Logan. She could yell at him all she wanted if this was what was going to happen after. He pulled her in for another kiss and didn't plan on returning inside any time soon.

* * *

By the time it reached three hours and twenty minutes after Chase had entered Zoey and Nicole's room, the girls finally gave in and told her to go ahead and act like she need something so she could come back and tell them what was going on. 

Nicole excitedly exited the room only to suddenly be beside an oblivious and making out Logan and Dana. Quinn would now owe her money because she was right about what they were doing. She crossed the hall in two steps and cautiously opened her door, peeking inside first to make sure she wasn't interrupting anything, but she didn't see anything. She did, however, hear the television.

Nicole stepped inside and found Chase with his arm around Zoey who was curled up and sleeping on his shoulder. He smiled as he saw Nicole and she smiled at the sight too. She didn't want to wake Zoey since she knew she hadn't been sleeping much lately, so instead of asking how things went she gave Chase a thumbs up. He understood that she was looking for confirmation that things had gone well and since they had gone very well, he returned the thumbs up. Nicole stifled a squealed and quietly exited to the room across the oblivious couple to tell her friends the good news. Chase and Zoey were fine, everything would be fine

* * *

Chase sat with Zoey for hours. They had talked and it was like nothing bad ever happened between them. But he still knew what it was like to miss her and he didn't want to do it ever again. He stared down at the girl sleeping in his arm, he was going to tell her that he loves her, it was just a matter of time and finding the right moment, but he definitely wanted to tell her. He took a chance and placed a gentle, chaste kiss on her forehead. He smiled as shifted slightly and mumbled something in her sleep that sounded an awful lot like his name. Yeah, someday he was definitely going to tell her how her smile always manages to make his day better, how she's the most beautiful girl in the world to him, how his life doesn't seem worth living when she's not in it. He's going to tell her he loves her, someday.

_Monday you can fall apart  
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart  
Thursday doesn't even start  
It's Friday I'm in love _

* * *

**A/N: It was a long one so I'm going to try and make this quick. **

**First, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter**. The occurrences are what I wanted, but I'm not pleased with how some of the actual writing turned out. I kept re-reading, changing things, still not really liking it and this process would just repeat itself so I finally decided to post and let all of you be the judge so be sure to let me know what you thought.

**I'm also really sorry if this chapter had a ton of errors**. My spell check kind of temporarily died on me and, with it being so long and still being exhausted from never sleeping during the school year, my proofreading probably wasn't very good. If you saw mistakes I would appreciate you pointing them out and, again, sorry for all of them.

And I know I didn't put in Nicole's reaction to the kiss between Tiffany and John, but this was already beyond long and it will be addressed when appropriate.

Oh, and I'm a huge _Days of Our Lives_ fan. I've been watching for 14 years thanks to my mom. I was so excited when Stefano came back. Anyway, for any _Days_ fan, when I wrote Lola's little part about not knowing if Sami was having EJ's kids or Lucas' it was maybe four or five months ago, and though Nick said that they're EJ's (because of Kate's threat), we still don't know the truth. Unless I missed something and in that case if it has been revealed and you know, please let me know, my mom and I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

**I'm going to see about making an iMix for all the songs in this story. If you'd want me to do that, then let me know**.

**The next chapter:** Christmas break is fast approaching and before they leave each other the gang will celebrate. This will include a gift exchange, Dustin needing some help from Chase, and a few surprises that I don't know how to elude to without giving them away completely. I know that I'm being vague and it's not actually sounding too good, but it should definitely please DL and CZ fans. It should also be a lot shorter than this chapter. I'm hoping all chapters will be.

I know it's been a long time and **I really need to know if you guys are still interested in this story.** The response to the last chapter actually dropped by fifty percent and initially it didn't really motivate me to start writing (which caused me to blow this off on the one free day I had before classes resumed at the end of winter break). So, I need to know if you want to find out what happens. The chapter after next is New Years and it will be a huge chapter for all DL fans. Say Anything will be making another appearance and it will be significant for CZ. When the gang gets back to PCA after their winter break they will be joined by a new male character who will have some significant roles. Logan's birthday will be towards the end of January and it's going to be a night of progress. A Cosmo quiz will also be stirring up some trouble. Dustin will have a couple more appearances. Lola, Michael, Nicole, John, Tiffany, and the new guy will all face some changes and romances and troubles. And of course there's the end of the story/season and the last episode of a season should always end with a bang, and this will. Just to keep you interested I will say that the song that plays for the last couple of scenes has recently been the most popular song played at funerals in the UK. It won't be a funeral, but if you watch as much television as I do, then you know the song and it should keep you wondering about what's going to happen next. I know I'm being really ambiguous, but if you want clarity to everything mentioned then let me know that you want to keep reading and I'll be sure to keep writing.

**I'm also working on **a much shorter DL story with much much much shorter chapters. It's a very different concept for me and for the category, I think. I don't know when I'll have it up, but right now I'm pretty sure that the title will be "Head Trip."

**Again, please leave your thoughts in regards to the chapter and let me know if you're still interested in reading more. **

**Thank you for reading.**

**-Simply Sarah**


	9. 8:Winter Wonderland

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who actually managed to get through last chapter and reviewed! **

**To the reviewer atlgirl916:** Days of Our Lives is a soap opera that's been on for over forty years so explaining what it's about would take forever, but basically, it's your typical soap opera filled with unrealistic drama.

**To those of you who want an iMix**: I will be making one, but I just didn't have time yet. Sorry.

**Music:** "The Christmas Song" by The Ravonettes (it can be found on iTunes and listened to in full on Napster).

**WARNING:**I was supposed to leave for a vacation about twenty minutes ago. I've been completely blowing things off to get this done and the last ten pages were written in the last hour and are completely un-proofread. Overall it isn't very well checked over either so I am really sorry for any mistakes, but I really wanted to get this up for all of you wonderful dedicated readers before I am away from a computer for a few days.

This is also long again, but not as long as the last chapter.

* * *

With fifteen days until Christmas, Malibu was sunny with temperature highs in the low sixties during the day and the high forties at night. In seven days PCA's winter break would begin, but for now students were busy studying for finals. While most students were looking forward to getting to go home, they were also sad to leave. Living at PCA they spent more of their year with roommates and friends than anyone else. The ones that a student was surrounded by at school always became a second family for the PCA student. Things weren't any different for the gang of eight who were looking forward to certain things about having a break from school, but those things most definitely didn't include their separation from each other.

On Thanksgiving Nicole had suggested that they have their own private holiday party instead of attending the one thrown by their dorm, so that they could exchange gifts and enjoy some time with just each other before they had to leave. Plus, as Dana added, the dorm parties were always lame because they were thrown by their lazy resident advisor.

It was just over a month since Zoey and Chase had patched up their friendship and for them everything seemed normal. They sat together at the football games still sharing a blanket. It had become clear that the fact that a secret existed was not going to break them, neither one of them would let it. But there were brief times when Zoey was quiet, wondering, questioning and Chase felt guilty because those seconds where she was somewhere else in her mind never used to exist and now they did because of the one thing he was still too scared to tell her. They were okay almost all the time, but since the fight it had only been almost when it used to be always.

Nicole was a cheerleader again. The cheerleading coach worked with two other schools and had left the team captains she had extensively trained to handle things for whenever she wasn't there. When she returned to PCA and found the junior varsity cheerleading team had gone from fifteen girls the last time she was there to only three left, she took back control of the team. Any girl who had been kicked off by Tiffany was allowed to come back if she wanted. Eight came back including Nicole. Tiffany's power was greatly reduced and the coach warned that she would be coming back much more often and she had better not hear a single complaint from the other girls about Tiffany's lack of fair leadership or Tiffany would find herself banned from cheering for the rest of her PCA stay.

For the most part everyone else was the same. Dana and Logan would break a rule, separate themselves for an agreed upon time, and always end up together again. Michael and Lola continued to hang out and work on their video blog, but like all the others, school work and extra curricular activities kept them from spending much time together, especially alone.

It was Friday night, the football team had just won the game they had all been at, and the girls had declared a girls night in. The last month had kept all of them fairly busy and hanging out and actually doing nothing had become rare. With the whole weekend to study for finals and only a week of half-days of finals after that, the girls had decided that they could afford and desperately needed to take a break.

With the remains of a couple of pizzas laying between them in Zoey and Nicole's room, the girls had quickly found themselves trying to catch up with each other before they watched _Love Actually_, which they were doing at Nicole's request to get them all in the holiday spirit.

After much complaint about finals, Lola was the first to turn the conversation to a juicer nature. "Where's Jack? I haven't seen him around much lately," Lola asked directed at Quinn.

Quinn gave a noncommittal shrug and picked at the cheese on the slice of pizza in front of her as she replied, "He's busy. He's involved in so many sports and clubs and he volunteers, a lot. Whenever he asks me to do anything though, it's always with other people. So I think he wants to be friends, which was not what I thought back around the dance."

"I think he's still interested, he's probably just busy," Lola offered.

Before any of the other girls could agree, Nicole jumped in with a solution, "Well you'll be able to tell what kind of relationship he wants by what kind of Christmas gift he gets you." Noticing everyone's slightly confused stares Nicole elaborated, "If he doesn't get you a gift then you're just friends. If he gets you something generic that would be an appropriate gift for any girl, then you're just friends. But if he gets you something pretty and expensive like jewelry or perfume or if he gets you something really thoughtful, then he wants you to be more than his friend."

Not only did Nicole's advice help Quinn, but the girls also hoped it would be remembered by Zoey. Then maybe she could finally figure out, when Chase certainly would give her a thoughtful gift, that he never wanted to just be friends.

"What did you get him?" Nicole asked curiously.

"Nothing yet; I haven't had time to go shopping at all. Have you?" Quinn questioned though she knew that when it came to Nicole and shopping, she could have guessed the answer.

"Five times," Nicole answered unsurprisingly and quickly moved on to more important matters, "but what are you going to get him?"

Quinn quickly realized the problem and replied, "I don't know. I need to get him something that doesn't give away what I think or want our relationship to be because what if he wants the opposite of whatever my gift says I want? What can I get him that doesn't fit in any category?"

Nicole smiled and shook her head and answered as if the solution should have been obvious, though the other girls were drawing blanks like Quinn, "You don't have to get him a gift with a confusing meaning, just get him two. Get one that says, 'I'm really glad that you're my friend.' And get him one that says, 'If try to kiss me I'll let you because I really like you.' Then you open his gift before giving him his and give him the gift that corresponds to his desires for the relationship. If necessary you may need to swap it out. Like if you give him a gift and you open first and it doesn't match the gift you gave him, tell him 'Oh, wait, that's not your gift. I forgot to write names on them. You almost got so and so's.' Then change it with the appropriate one."

The girls stared at Nicole slightly dumfounded at the rapid way she came up with a thought-out solution. Zoey asked the question on everyone's mind, "Where do you possibly learn things like that?"

Nicole shrugged and guessed, "TV." After a second of silence another possibility occurred to her and she blurted out, "And Cosmo…and Seventeen, and Elle, and Jane, and…I think that's it."

"Alright oh wise one, what advice do you have for the rest of us?" Lola asked playfully as she pulled her legs up to sit Indian style on the couch at her spot next to Nicole.

Nicole turned to her to her left to Lola and asked a question that she had wanted to ask for a while, but lack of the absence of a certain person whenever she seemed to see Lola hadn't allowed her to ask, "How are things with Michael?"

Lola knew she would be asked, but she didn't mind sharing, "They're good. We don't get to spend much time together alone or without having something to do, but it's good. He holds my hand a lot and he never hesitates to do it, he just does it, I like that. So things are moving slow, but I like that I have this one thing that isn't hectic or drama filled. It's good, me and Michael are good."

Lola did seem good because she couldn't seem to resist smiling as she was filling the girls in and it satisfied Nicole, "Okay then you two do not require my Cosmo inspired knowledge."

"What about you?" Lola asked, "Did Cosmo help you with John Ely?"

"It wasn't really necessary," Nicole replied and explained, "he was sort of like a fantasy guy and when I actually started to learn things about him, like that he would kiss Tiffany, it turned out he isn't the kind of guy I'd want to be with. He was sort of like a pre-mature crush, because the guy I thought he was didn't really exist. So you could say that seeing that saved me from learning it later and potentially getting hurt later. Plus, that guy that Chase introduced me to from his golf team at the dance, Matt, we've been hanging out. He can drive and he has a car and he's been giving me rides to the mall. And he asked me out for when we get back because he actually took all his finals early and left yesterday; his parents arranged it because they're going on a vacation."

"I still think it was Tiffany who kissed John though, not the other way around," Dana told Nicole again since she too had seen the kiss and thought that Tiffany was just that much of a heartless backstabber to do something like that.

"It doesn't matter. I've moved on," Nicole said cheerily. She turned the conversation off of herself again and asked, "How about you Dana? How's Logan?"

"Asstastic as usual," Dana answered dryly from her position stretched out across one of Zoey and Nicole's overstuffed chairs.

"I don't know why you two deny that you're together," Lola commented, though she knew the outcome of such statements because she made them all the time.

Dana sighed, she was so tired of this same argument, and said, "Because we're not together."

"You just spend all your free time with him making out," Lola countered.

"And he always has his hands on you," Quinn supplied.

"Or his arm around you," Nicole added.

Before anyone could add anything to the list they seemed to be quickly compiling Dana retorted, "I do not spend _all_ of my time with him. I spend any time I can with you guys, like now. And I have yearbook and plenty of schoolwork, which I've been doing good on and that takes time. And he does frequently have his hands on me, which is the purpose of putting an arm around me so that he can be touching me, but can you blame him? He's a teenage guy, he's only got his mind on one thing and his actions reflect that. And I stop him. He's still never gotten past first and he never will because I don't want him to because I don't like him and he doesn't like me. So again, we are not together because nothing could actually make us like each other."

"Sure," Lola said doubtfully.

"Oh stop!" Zoey burst out suddenly.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. Dana and Lola hadn't been doing anything but stopped from moving anyway. Quinn was about to take another bite of pizza, but stopped. And Nicole was flipping through stations despite the fact that they were going to put in a movie and her fingers froze on the remote.

Nicole was who Zoey had meant to direct her exclamation to, which was cleared up when she said, "I just want to see the beginning of this."

What Nicole had come to stop on thanks to Zoey was an episode of _Friends_. "But we're supposed to watch _Love Actually _and we've seen every episode of this so many times," Nicole replied trying to get them to follow the plan so they could get in the holiday spirit. Though she was actually fully in the holiday spirit since starting just after Thanksgiving she started her tradition of watching every Christmas movie ever made and listing to Christmas music constantly. She loved the holiday season.

"We will," Zoey assured, "I just want to see the part with the theme song. Chase says it's impossible to get the clap right that's in it, but I think he's the only one that can't do it because it's really easy. So just try to do it and then we can watch the movie."

As the opening scene ended Quinn put down her slice of pizza and Nicole did the same with the remote in preparation. They really didn't have any reason to try what Zoey was asking, but they didn't have a reason not to either, so they did. The familiar words of "I'll Be There For You" started playing and the clapping quickly came up. All the girls tried and were able to get the claps right.

Zoey noticed and said, "See, I knew it was just Chase." She picked up her phone from beside her from where she was sitting on the floor to the side of, and in front of, the couch with Quinn, but quickly noticed what she was doing and put it back down. Knowing that the action hadn't gone unnoticed she simply said, "I'll just tell him later."

There was a moment of silence as Nicole got up and put the movie in, but Lola couldn't resist asking another question, this time to Zoey, "So how are things with you and Chase? Normal again?"

"Yeah," Zoey quickly responded. But ever since Chase had told her that everyone knew what he was hiding from her she had wanted to ask them something, she just wasn't sure if she was going to like their answer. At the moment though, she was feeling good about her and Chase and she decided to go for it and ask, "You all know this secret he's keeping from me, right?" All the girls nodded in response. Zoey continued, "So…did I do the right thing? I mean, there are just times when I've been wondering if I should trust him. I feel guilty for thinking like that, but whatever this secret it, it seems important and how could he not tell me?"

"He hasn't told you because, as he said, he's not ready to," Nicole reminded.

"Which I think is really stupid. I mean, seriously, he has nothing to be afraid of. It's not like it's at all bad," Dana said putting in her opinion.

"It isn't?" Zoey asked. Chase had assured her that it wasn't bad, but maybe he just didn't think it'd be, maybe everyone else knew it was though.

"No," all the girls answered at once.

Lola elaborated, "It's not bad and if you paid attention, really paid attention, you could figure it out before he even tells you. That's how all of us figured it out. Chase really isn't good at being subtle."

Zoey was lost in thought trying to think of what they could possibly be referring to. She couldn't think of anything. Really, if she hadn't found out that Chase was hiding something, she never would have suspected.

Nicole started the movie and effectively distracted all the girls from their thoughts.

Thirty minutes into the movie Dana stood up and Nicole asked, "Do you want me to pause it?"

"No. I've seen it before. And I'll be right back I'm just going to the bathroom," Dana said as headed for the door and left.

The girls sat for about a half a minute in silence before Lola asked, "Who's going to check?"

"Well, give her a minute. She's fast, but she's not that fast," Nicole replied.

After another thirty seconds passed Lola stood up and said, "I'm going to go check. Anyone else coming?"

All the girls shook their head and Zoey said, "What's the point? We know where she is."

Lola left to check anyway and Zoey, Quinn, and Nicole continued to watch the movie.

"That little boy is so adorable," Nicole cooed as the little red head boy on screen declared to his stepfather that he was in love.

Lola re-entered the room after only a minute.

"Logan?" Nicole asked.

"Yep," Lola confirmed just having come from her room and looking though her window with the binoculars pointed at the boys room. She added, "And she probably won't be returning soon because he didn't look like he was going to be letting her go."

By the time Dana returned _Love Actually_ had ended and they were just about to start _Miricale on 34__th__ Street_, another of Nicole's requests. No one asked her about it or mentioned her long absence, trying to get her or him to admit to anything was pretty much a lost cause. She knew they knew exactly what she had been doing and she didn't want things to be that way. She wanted to be able to leave for a minute and not have them know where that minute was spent. But a minute with him always seemed to turn into so much more and she couldn't seem to control it. And what she hated about it was that despite all the things telling her that it wasn't right and it wasn't what she wanted or what they planned, she didn't care. She didn't care about the changes or the lack of control or the times when everyone gave her those annoying knowing looks. Right now, she completely didn't care what the cost of not stopping may be.

* * *

After taking Friday night off, everyone spent Saturday studying. Well, Logan didn't study as much as he slept, but for the most part everyone had to concentrate on passing the difficult tests their teachers had in store for them.

Sunday was mostly spent the same way, except for Sunday night. At the beginning of the year Zoey had noticed that Dustin didn't seem to come around of his own free will, unless he needed something. Since he didn't seem to appreciate her popping up when he was with his friends she had suggested, and he had agreed to, Sunday night dinners together.

After a pretty normal meal between the two though, Chase got a surprise and disruption from the study break he had been taking, when Dustin knocked on his door.

Dustin let himself in promptly after knocking and joined Chase on his couch.

"Hey Dustin. If you're looking for Zoey she's not here, she's probably waiting for you wherever you were supposed to meet her for your dinner," Chase supplied, thinking that the only reason that Dustin could have come by was to find Zoey.

"I know where Zoey is. She's probably back in her room by now. We just finished dinner," Dustin replied. Chase sat silently waiting for Dustin to tell him why he came over. It wouldn't have been that unusual last year or the year before, but this year Dustin had barely spent any time with them, instead spending time with his own friends as he should.

Finally Dustin said, "I need your help. I absolutely can't come up with anything to get Zoey for Christmas."

"What makes you think I could help?" Chase asked confused.

"You're the one in love with her," Dustin answered as if his reasoning should have been obvious.

Chase didn't bother denying it since he was far from even the tenth person that seemed to know. He simply countered, "You love her too."

"Yeah but only because she's my sister and I have to," Dustin replied with a sigh. He added, "But, you love Zoey and you know everything about her. You've always been good about getting her gifts she likes so you can help me. Will you?"

Dustin appeared desperate, which made Chase want to help, but unfortunately, "I don't know Dustin. I don't even know what I'm getting her."

Dustin's face fell in disappointment for a second, but perked back up when he realized, "But helping me find a gift would be easier than thinking of one to get her from you because my gift just needs to be something she'd like and you probably should get her something thoughtful and not the usual kind of meaningless stuff you usually get her."

"Yeah, I know I should get her something better this year, after what I've put her through, but I just don't know what," Chase said with a slight hopelessness to his voice. He had actually been having trouble concentrating on studying for his finals. Him and Zoey had been through a lot, because of him, and he wanted to get her something that showed that she was…important to him. Something that said that he was still so sorry that he was lying to her, but he couldn't come up with anything that he thought was good enough.

"I can try to help you if you help me," Dustin offered with a hopeful smile.

"Sure," Chase agreed and they decided that they'd go shopping together Tuesday. Chase figured at the very least, Dustin could get her something she'd like, something that was appropriate from a brother. And maybe, hopefully, he'd be able to come up with something that was a good gift from a best friend who happens to be secretly in love with her.

* * *

After a half-day of finals on Monday, Nicole tried to remain full of holiday cheer as she headed to a meeting of the cheerleaders that Tiffany had called. Cheer hadn't been that bad since the coach had been popping up every few days to ensure Tiffany's cut in power. But though she was abiding by the new rules, Tiffany seemed angry, but more than that Nicole thought she seemed sad and actually felt sorry for her. Of course this wasn't a feeling any of the other girls who had re-joined the team shared; as far as they were concerned if Tiffany was sad, mad, hurt or whatever, she deserved it.

Nicole entered the gym with Erika and Kath at her sides and approached and sat in front of the bleachers that Tiffany was, typically, standing on with Jenna and Morgan at her sides.

Once all the girls were seated before her, Tiffany gestured to the gift bags lined up in front of her on the bleachers and directed, "Take the one with your name on it."

The girls rose and grabbed the bag with their name on it hesitantly. They all returned to their previous places on the floor, but none of them opened their bags afraid it was a trick or somehow something bad since it did seem to be from Tiffany. Normally a gift bag would mean a gift, which would be good, but with Tiffany the chance that it wasn't were better.

"Well open them," Tiffany said more than a little frustrated at how long this was already taking.

Each girl opened up her bag and pulled out a purse.

"A bag?" Erika questioned.

"No," Nicole was quick to counter practically bouncing with excitement, "It's a Coach signature stripe denim small hobo!"

"Is it real?" Bria dared to ask.

Before Tiffany could reply, Nicole cut in and answered, "Yes. It is absolutely not a fake. It has the right lining and everything." Nicole was hugging the bag at this point, while taking in its fresh new scent.

At Nicole's immense pleasure at the gift and the some of the other girls' excitement, Tiffany almost forgot that she didn't want to get them anything, she was just bribing them into thinking she was nice to stay on the coach's good side. She remembered who she was and the fact that that person wouldn't want to be around the rest of the girls unless she had to be. And now that the gifts were given, she didn't have to be there anymore. "See you next year," she said as she gracefully descended the bleachers and exited the gym with Jenna and Morgan trailing behind her.

* * *

The worst thing about Tiffany's day would not be spending a bunch of money on gifts for people she didn't like. Instead it would come hours later when John Ely reluctantly knocked on her door.

Tiffany promptly opened her door assuming it would be someone she actually wanted there. There was silence between them for a few seconds. For very different reasons, they had been avoiding each other for the past five and a half weeks.

Tiffany came to her senses and did what was expected of her. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded rather rudely.

"Wouldn't have come if I didn't have to," John assured. He hurried on, wanting to get it over with, "My mom said that I'm supposed to give you a ride back, but if you don't want one or you don't want to leave when I'm leaving, then I need to know. So I'm leaving Thursday after finals are over. Do you want a ride?"

"Thursday? So you're skipping all the Christmas parties?" Tiffany asked because most people weren't flying out until Friday morning. Though she was always driven home because she lived only a little over an hour North, depending on traffic, in Santa Barbara. And she didn't know why she was actually asking, it wasn't like she wanted to go to the parties, especially without Morgan and Jenna who were leaving directly after finals on Thursday afternoon.

"Yeah, there's never any point to going to those," John replied quickly and like he couldn't wait to just get out of her presence.

"Right," Tiffany agreed and answered, "Well, my dad told me that since you're here with a car he shouldn't need to send a car for me this year. So if I don't go with you I don't think I'll have a ride."

"Fine. Be ready. I won't be waiting," John said as he turned his back and began to walk away.

"Fine," Tiffany said, anger creeping into her tone, but it definitely got into her actions since her door slammed to his retreating form.

Down the hall Zoey eyed John curiously, but he didn't notice as he headed for the stairs. She had caught the end of mini scene and decided maybe she also agreed with Dana; she hadn't seen the kiss, but they didn't seem like two people who liked each other.

* * *

The next time Zoey saw Nicole was at dinner with everyone, but everyone already knew everything else that had happened since Nicole shared everything about herself, too much information sometimes. Zoey began her tale, "So I had to see Annie Wu today about some student council stuff and I met her up in her room, on the fourth floor, and I caught the end of a conversation."

"Between who?" Nicole immediately asked. She couldn't help herself, she loved gossip. Though it was weird that Zoey was the one telling her and not the other way around. Usually she was the one repeating gossip with everyone else looking bored like they were now.

"Tiffany and John," Zoey answered and paused waiting for some kind of reaction out of Nicole to see if she should continue. But Nicole was only looking at her waiting for her to say more and so were the rest of the girls and Chase and Michael now, so she continued, "Well, it didn't seem to go well. If they were ever together I don't think they are anymore. Or if they are together then they're seriously fighting because they both seemed really angry."

"I thought she's seemed kind of sad lately too," Nicole added since voicing that thought was much safer around her friends than the other cheerleaders who, justifiably so, had absolutely no sympathy for Tiffany. She shrugged as she said, "Oh well." Grabbing her bag a smile quickly returned to her face as she said with another excited squeal, "But look at the wonderful bag she got all the cheerleaders!"

Later on that night before they went to bed Zoey caught Nicole saying, "Goodnight Charlie." With Zoey giving her a very confused and curious look, Nicole explained with a gesture to the bag, "I named him Charlie."

That actually made sense. After all, Nicole did name one of their walls Jared. Her bed was Sammy. And their television was Francesca. Those were the only names that Zoey knew, but she was pretty sure that Nicole had given names to many more things.

* * *

Tuesday's finals were brutal for some of the gang and easier for others depending on the class that they happened to be testing for. Though they hadn't made any plans to do anything together, they all managed to end up in the same place.

Chase, as he promised, accompanied Dustin to the mall to try and find Zoey a Christmas gift.

Chase decided to let Dustin lead the way and he followed him as he entered Best Buy. As Dustin started heading for the video gaming area Chase had to ask, and he figured remind, "And what are you planning to get for Zoey from here?"

"Oh," Dustin said stopping suddenly seeming to realize that in heading to the video games he a was actually looking for himself. He glanced around and suggested, "I could get her a CD."

"Which one?" Chase asked.

"Um…a Christmas one?" Dustin responded completely clueless. Chase simply shook his head and Dustin made another suggestion, "A movie?"

"Hey guys," came a voice from behind them. Both Chase and Dustin turned around to see Lola. She was smiling sweetly but said, "You've got to get out of here please."

"Why?" Chase asked as Lola began directing him towards the exit into the mall.

"Because I'm buying gifts and I can't have you knowing what I'm getting you. And if you see Michael waiting outside tell him I'll be done in fifteen minutes," Lola replied as she shooed them from the store.

Chase and Dustin didn't get three steps into the mall before running into Michael who guessed that they had been forced out and asked, "How much longer?"

"Fifteen minutes," Chase responded.

"Good, then I have at least twenty," Michael said a little relieved. But not completely because he needed some help as well, "Can you come help me out for a second. I'm trying to decide what scarf Zoey will like."

"I'm helping Dustin out right now," Chase said, politely declining due to his previous agreement.

"It's alright with me. Maybe I can get Zoey a scarf too," Dustin said hopefully.

"No," Chase immediately responded, "Too much of the same thing is not a good thing."

"It will only take a minute," Michael said as he lead them into a store.

Chase didn't at all recognize it, never heard of the name or anything. But it was clearly a store for just girls because it was littered with girls clothing and accessories, as well as many girls.

All Chase had to do was look at the various scarves to know which one Zoey would like. As Michael said, it only took a minute and they were on their way.

They walked through the mall and as they came across different stores Dustin kept making suggestions, but they were all rather random and clearly desperate. After thirty minutes Chase had told Dustin "no" so many times that he had lost count.

Finally as they passed Bath and Body Works, Dustin suggested, "Something from there?"

Chase thought about it. Zoey did like stuff from there and it had been a while since she had come to the mall, actually the last time was with him and that was almost two months ago, she would probably be getting low on the stuff she liked. While perfume was a gift that was thought of as "more than friendly" he figure much cheaper lotions and scents could be appropriate from a brother. He said, "Sure. Let's go."

They entered the store and Dustin stared in awe at all the scents they had. He began smelling them and he thought they all smelled pretty similar. This would be a difficult task, unless, "Chase, do you know which one she likes?"

"Sweet Pea and Pear Berry and Blackberry Vanilla and some of the seasonal ones," Chase responded not even needing to give it a second of thought.

After Dustin purchased a couple of lotions, sprays, and travel sizes, Chase and Dustin were headed out of the store when they saw Nicole towards the front of it. She was singing along with the music playing in the store.

"Giddy up jingle horse, pick up your feet, jingle around the clock, mix and a mingle to a jinglin' beat, that's the Jingle Bell rock," Nicole sang along merrily as she searched through gift sets.

"She doing a Mean Girls impersonation or something?" Dustin asked not knowing what to make out of her singing.

"Nah," Chase replied knowing Nicole a bit better, "Sometimes she sings aloud without realizing it."

Chase approached, figuring he'd let her know that she was singing out loud. He greeted her, "Hi Nicole."

She turned around and said, "Hi Chase. And Dustin, oh my God it's been so long." She gave Dustin a bone crushing hug as the many bags in her hands served to smother him completely.

As she let Dustin go, Chase informed, "You know you were singing out loud just a second ago."

"Oh I know," Nicole replied with a smile, "its Christmas music, how can you resist not singing along?"

Chase and Dustin left Nicole to her shopping and as they did they could hear Nicole singing along with the next Christmas tune that came over the store's sound system.

"She's kind of weird," Dustin commented.

"Yeah," Chase agreed because earlier that morning Zoey had told him about Charlie, but knowing Nicole for over two years now he also knew, "But I think she has a lot more fun than any of the rest of us."

Chase and Dustin began doing some shopping for their respective groups of friends since they were already at the mall. As they passed Ritz Camera they saw Logan inside looking pretty peeved with the sales clerk. They went in because Chase hadn't found anything for Dana yet, but he knew she liked photography.

"Hey Logan," Chase greeted.

Logan looked slightly alarmed for a second, but it passed and his expression become vacant as he said, "Chase, Dustin."

Dustin gave him a nod as he played with one of the cameras on display.

Chase realized the reason he was in the store, and the fact that that reason happened to be someone Logan was spending an awful lot of time with and asked, "So, uh, what are you getting?"

Logan didn't answer immediately, clearly trying to avoid suspicion knowing that being caught here was really bad. He responded, "One of my cameras is acting funny. I brought it here to get it fixed."

Chase had caught the pause before his response, but he also knew that Logan did have a few cameras so it was a plausible reason. Plus, he claimed he didn't like Dana so why would he pay attention enough to know what she liked?

Chase decided to just let it go and see what happened. He looked around the store for a minute. He had heard that slide film was supposed to be really good, but some of it was so expensive and maybe he heard wrong and Dana knew better and wouldn't like it. He realized camera stuff was out of his league and he should try and find something else to get her. But before he and Dustin left he couldn't help glancing back at Logan who was still at the counter waiting for a sales person to return. If he didn't know better he would have said that Logan looked nervous, but he had known Logan since the third grade and he couldn't remember him ever being nervous so he had to be wrong.

After two hours at the mall Dustin had gotten everything he needed, something for Zoey and something for each of his friends. But Dustin knew that though Chase was carrying bags as well, he wasn't done. Dustin said knowingly, "You haven't gotten anything for Zoey yet, have you?"

Chase shook his head and replied, "I can't think of anything good enough." Dustin had tried making suggestions as they shopped and though Chase would concede on some things that Zoey would like them, he still maintained that none of them were enough. Feeling rather hopeless Chase said, "Let's just go. I'll come back when I know what to get."

As they headed for the bus stop they ran into three familiar faces, Zoey, Quinn, and Dana.

Zoey approached them smiling curiously, "Hey, what are you guys doing here together?"

"Just hanging out with my pal Chase," Dustin replied grinning and laughing nervously as he gave Chase a pat on the back. Clearly the kid didn't know how to lie, at all.

Chase offered a better answer that still protected Dustin desperate plea to him, "Dustin required some assistance. What about you guys?"

"Well, we were at school and none of us could find anyone else and we were trying to think of something to do," Zoey explained.

"And I suggested studying because we have more finals tomorrow," Quinn supplied.

"But I suggested shopping because I haven't gotten anyone anything yet," Dana jumped in.

"And I realized I haven't either and Quinn needed to find something for Jack still so, here we are," Zoey finished.

"No one was at school because everyone's here, we've run into everyone," Chase supplied. He could have just said "Alright, see you later," but he hadn't seen her in hours and it had only been less than a minute now. A little more time with her was always better.

When Chase mentioned that everyone was there Zoey got an idea and said, "Oh well if everyone's here and since it's almost five, if you guys wanted to hang out a little longer, we could just all grab dinner together here."

Chase knew that Dustin would probably want to get back to his friends and he didn't want to let him go back to school unaccompanied, plus he knew Zoey wouldn't like that. But before Chase could say that he couldn't, Dustin said, "Sure. You should check that everyone's still here, but I could actually use Chase's help for a bit longer."

Zoey was surprised to see her little brother actually willing to hang out with her and had to check, "You mean you're actually going to have dinner with me more than once this week?"

Dustin shrugged and replied, "Well, I am getting something out of it. And I'm out of money so you're paying for me."

Zoey, Quinn, and Dana left them to get some shopping done before they met for dinner and they were left with the task of making sure everyone was still there.

But Chase was utterly confused and after a minute alone with Dustin he still hadn't began calling everyone because he really couldn't believe what had just happened.

Dustin noticed Chase stuck state and explained, "I told you I'd help you out for helping me out."

"Thanks," Chase replied sincerely.

"No problem," Dustin replied with a shrug. It turned out, when he was trying to help someone, he could lie perfectly well.

Everyone was still actually at the mall and they all met in the food court for dinner. But when Logan showed up, carrying many bags that Dana noticed all happened to be full of stuff for himself, a fight ensued.

After Dana had called him every form of selfish she could think of, Logan retorted, "Well why should I have to buy everyone a gift? I don't even celebrate Christmas."

"You don't?" Nicole asked, voicing the question everyone was thinking.

"No. I'm Jewish," Logan answered as if this was something that he had told them many times before.

Chase and Michael had known each other and Logan since the third grade and neither could ever remember Logan saying anything about being Jewish.

"Really?" Chase asked surprised.

"Yeah. My mom's even super into it. She even made me have a Bar Mitzvah a few years ago," Logan answered, still not understanding how this was new to anyone since he was pretty sure he must have mentioned it before.

But Michael realized why he thought that Logan celebrated Christmas. He accused, "But a few years ago your dad invited us to a Christmas party at your house."

"Yeah but," with everyone eyeing him suspiciously, Logan folded and said, "Okay so my mom's Jewish and my dad isn't really anything so we celebrate both." With everyone now talking back to him about what a lame attempt it was to try and get out of their gift exchange he said, "But technically I can't believe in Christmas so I shouldn't have to participate."

Everyone was still continuing with there talking and saying things like, "Well if you don't want to give gifts then you shouldn't get them either." But Dana wasn't, not anymore. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear that made a big smile appear across his face. She finished, leaned away, and he got up saying, "Fine, I'll go get you guys stuff."

Logan left and Dana sat not able to refrain from the proud smile she wore at his reaction.

Lola asked, "We don't want to know what you said do we?"

"Probably not," Dana said shaking her head and trying to return to eating so she wasn't smiling anymore. Not only did she not want to repeat what she said in front of everyone because even Logan was on the verge of blushing at her words, so it would be pretty embarrassing. But also, she knew they didn't like having the more…illicit details.

* * *

After dinner, just as he had before dinner, Chase wandered the mall a bit more trying to come up with something to get Zoey. The next day after more finals he was still completely clueless. So, while Zoey was in a meeting with Dean Rivers, Chase assembled the gang in his room and decided to ask for their help.

He had told them that he wanted the gift to be really special, really meaningful, because of everything that had happened in the last month or so. He had told them that ten minutes ago and they were still sitting in silence.

Logan seemed to be getting impatient and whined, "Why am I here? You know I'm not going to be able to help."

Dana, who was sitting in his lap despite the fact that there were other places in the room to sit, wrapped an arm around his shoulder and hit him upside the head.

"That's not necessary Dana. He's right," Chase knew when he asked Logan to be there that he wouldn't probably be able to contribute, but he didn't want him to feel left out.

Though Chase's agreeing could have meant that Logan could leave, Dana didn't move so neither did he.

Finally Michael offered a suggestion, "You could get her those personalized M&Ms they've been showing commercials for them. You could even get them made so that they tell her that you love her."

"No," Lola immediately shot down and explained, "Zoey loves chocolate as much as I do and that means she's going to eat it faster than she can read it."

Chase knew she was probably right, but he didn't like the idea for a different reason, "Plus, I want the gift to just be a really great Christmas gift not a guess-what-I'm-in-love-you type of gift."

They would have tried to talk him into actually telling her, but quite frankly they had spent a lot of time trying to this semester and they were tired of it. So instead of arguing they simply made more suggestions.

"You could get her a pretty bag," Nicole suggested, practically petting her new Coach bag.

With the way Nicole was handling her bag Chase was eerily reminded of Dr.Evil and the way he would pet his cat. But remaining focused at the task at hand he replied, "Just two things wrong with that. One, I don't have that kind of money. And two, does Zoey even like designer purses that much?"

After many mumbled "no" and "probably not"s, Logan contributed his only thought towards the matter, "I'd say you should get jewelry because it fixes everything, but like you said, you don't have that much cash."

"He's right, jewelry would have been great," Nicole agreed nodding her head in approval.

"No, jewelry is just shiny and pretty, not thoughtful," Dana countered.

Chase put an end to the debate continuing by saying, "It doesn't matter, I can't afford it anyway."

"Well, how about something that shows you listen to her. Is there anything she's mentioned wanting?" Quinn proposed.

"She wants Dustin to actually like spending time with her. She wants to get an A on our English final. She probably wants everyone to really like the gifts she's gotten for us. She wants to travel. She wants to go to Stanford or maybe stay down here. She wants to be married before she's twenty-six and she wants to have at least one of the three kids she wants by the time she's thirty. She wants _Friends_ to come back and have a wedding for Ross and Rachel. She wants Harry Potter to live. And I can't do any of those for her. The one other thing that I know that she wants is for me to tell her the truth, and I can't do that yet either. Especially not now, not right before we leave for a couple weeks... just not now," Chase rattled off with anxiety filling his voice and hopelessness consuming it by the end as he sunk down on his bed.

No one knew what to suggest to Chase to get her and really they knew everything they could possibly come up with wouldn't be what Chase wanted, not would it be as good as what he was capable of. As Chase laid back on his bed staring at the ceiling, the others seemed to converse with their eyes and decide that it would be best to give him some space.

Michael took the role of saying what they all knew. Before they all exited he said to Chase, "You know Zoey better than anyone. She's probably given you tons of options for perfect things that you can actually get her. All you have to do is pay attention. I know you're going to find her something perfect, we all know that. Just give it time."

Chase was glad everyone else was so sure that he'd come up with something because he definitely wasn't.

* * *

Later that evening Chase found himself studying for their English final the next day with Zoey, well they were supposed to be studying but had gotten distracted talking about what gifts they got everyone.

"So Nicole likes this Sephora, you're sure? Because I just saw a bunch of make-up in there and guessed," Chase asked for the second time.

"Yes she love Sephora," Zoey assured. Moving on she asked, "What'd you get Logan?"

"A mirror," Chase replied with a chuckle.

"Me too!" Zoey exclaimed.

Laughing along with Zoey, Chase said, "It was the only thing I could think of."

"Well he does like himself better than anything else," Zoey said explaining her reasoning for the gift as well.

"I'm not so sure about that anymore," Chase said thoughtfully.

The way Zoey's eyes seemed to be locked with his across her little coffee table where they were both sitting on one side on the floor with their legs to their sides, Chase was sure she must have been able to read his thoughts. She absolutely understood his meaning and said just as pensively, "I know."

"It's kind of weird isn't it," Chase heard himself say, but he didn't remember even thinking it.

"No actually, not really," Zoey said with a slight shake of her head.

"Yeah," Chase agreed, but added, "But that's what's weird about it."

"Does it snow where you're from?" Zoey asked completely out of no where.

"What?" Chase asked in response to the random question.

He had been so caught up in her that he didn't notice that her eyes left his and were staring out the window. At his return question her eyes returned to him as she explained, "I know you're from North of here, but I don't remember where you've said, and I was just wondering if it gets cold enough there to snow."

"No, Ripon is kind of in the middle of California, it doesn't get snow," Chase answered.

Zoey's glance returned to the window as she said seemingly lost in thoughts, "It doesn't snow for me at home either. I've never actually seen snow, but I've always wanted to. That's actually kind of why I wanted to have a formal, so we could have a winter wonderland theme and it might actually feel sort of…snowy."

If Chase was a cartoon one would have been able to see the light bulb go off above his head. Michael and everyone was right, he just had to wait and listen. He knew exactly what he would do for Zoey. Of course he couldn't afford to bring snow to her nor could he take her to snow, but he knew something he could do that would make her happy.

He couldn't help smiling since his problem was solved, but he tried to hide it as he said, "Well, if you're going to get that A you want and I'm going to get that C I was shooting for, we should probably get back to work."

"You're going to get better than a C," Zoey encouraged.

"_You're_ going to get better than a C, I'm going to pray for a miracle and hope that I pass," Chase said returning to his playful yet pessimistic self, a self that made Zoey smile with quips like the one he just made.

Despite returning to work, they both enjoyed the rest of their night, together.

* * *

Nicole stayed away from her room, leaving Zoey and Chase alone, by doing some last minute errands. She had three cheerleaders to hunt down and give gifts to. None of the other girls on the team were doing it, and she wasn't planning on telling any of them that she was, but she didn't like to get a gift from a person who she didn't give something to. Of course she couldn't spend as much money as Tiffany, but she wanted to get her and Jenna and Morgan something, since she figured they must have been in on the gift, because she wanted to show her appreciation for their gift to her. She had gone to their door, but no one answered and she didn't want to leave gifts out in the hall because you never knew what some of the other girls were capable of, thus the hunting.

She found Jenna first. She was with a guy at the cafeteria and Nicole didn't want to interrupt so she just dropped the small gift bag on the table with a "Merry Christmas" and continued on her way. Jenna eyed the bag and Nicole curiously as she walked away, but returned to flirting with the guy she was with in no time.

Nicole found Morgan next. She was sitting by herself on a bench near the theater. Nicole approached, held out her gift and said, "Merry Christmas."

"What?" Morgan asked rather baffled at the gesture of the brunet in front of her.

"Well I figured that you and Jenna were probably in on the gifts Tiffany gave us and I wanted to get all of you something in return," Nicole explained with her friendly smile not fading from her face.

Morgan shook her head and said truthfully, "We really didn't help. Tiffany doesn't really accept help. Or listen to opinions or advice."

"Well then you get something for putting up with her more than the rest of us," Nicole said offering the gift again and an encouraging smile to go along with it.

Morgan sighed and took the bag with a smile. She said sincerely, "Thank you Nicole."

"It's no problem," Nicole replied perkily and left to hunt down her last recipient.

After wandering around the entire campus Nicole decided to try the three's room again. This time when she knocked the door was answered by the girl she was looking for. Tiffany looked utterly confused at Nicole's presence and she had her cordless phone in one hand covering the end of it.

"Merry Christmas," Nicole said cheerily holding out the gift to Tiffany.

Tiffany took the gift warily and managed to say despite her complete shock, "Uh…thanks."

Nicole smiled and said, "Have a good break." Nicole was quickly on her way towards the other end of the hall where the stairs were and she didn't here Tiffany's muttered, "That's unlikely."

Tiffany shut her door and returned to listening to her father on the phone, but was distracted from what he was saying by the gift. She opened it up and found it to have a pretty cheap, but cute, clutch bag filled with a few travel sized lotion, spray, and shower gels of Warm Vanilla scented Bath and Body Works presents. She was horrible to Nicole, yet she got a gift from her, and no one else besides her friends, when she knew Nicole was someone who couldn't afford to be wasting money like her. Of course John would like her, she was clearly the better person. But she pushed the thoughts of her repeated rejection away and tried to listen to her father, it was just easier if she pretended her life wasn't most of the things it was. And denial was a rather old and well practiced habit of hers.

* * *

The next morning Chase had a lot to get done and, with the interruption of finals, not much time. As soon as they got up Chase enlisted both Michael and Logan's help and asked them to get the girls together after school too because he really had a lot to do.

Naturally since they all knew Logan would be the first one to see Dana alone, Chase asked Logan to ask her for help. But Logan replied, "Nope. I can't do that. That would be a conversation and then she'd make us go on a break for breaking the rules and I don't want to go on a break on our last day here."

Chase and Michael were actually amused at the vehemence with which Logan refused; he must have really come to miss certain things, or a certain someone, when he was forced to be away. But Chase and Michael were also confused because well, it sounded kind of…stupid.

Michael asked, "So if you two talk about anything at all you consider it breaking your talking rule?"

"Yeah," Logan replied, completely missing the problem with that.

"But, you have that rule so you don't actually get to know each other or, God forbid, start to like each other, right?" Chase asked with more than a hint of sarcasm to his voice.

"Yeah," Logan repeated.

Chase shook his head and tried to explain, "Okay, but in discussing necessary things or passing on a message, how would that result in…bonding?"

"I don't know. All I know is that the first conversation consisted of me asking her a question about our English class and if wasn't her there and you or Zoey instead, then I could have just asked either of you because you're in that class too. But she was there so I just asked her. Then we were suddenly on a break because she said we broke a rule and I just followed along with it," Logan recalled.

"Well maybe you should argue that only personal information, pointless conversations, and talking about your feelings should count towards that no talking rule. Because passing on messages and asking a question about a class really isn't going to lead to you actually learning anything about each other," Michael advised, finishing up his and Chase's point.

As they headed to breakfast Logan seriously doubted that making the argument would work, but as time to get to class was approaching forty minutes later, he found he didn't really need to argue. She just agreed, apparently he had a good point. Well, actually Michael and Chase had a good point, but he took credit for it.

Right after finals ended Chase quickly put his plan into motion. He delegated tasks, but also made a rotation for tasks because he wanted someone to be with, and distracting, Zoey constantly, but he didn't want it to be the same person because then she may get suspicious as to where everyone else was. They were all supposed to meet in Zoey and Nicole's room at five thirty, which only gave Chase four and a half hours to get a lot of stuff done, hence the need for the help. The gang all willingly pitched in, they knew how important it was to Chase and for Zoey.

Chase's family wasn't particularly wealthy, especially since both his parents decided to quit their jobs and finally fulfill their life long dream of opening up a restaurant, so he had to do some…unsavory things to get all of the things he needed. He put Logan in charge of the more shady business, which was quite convenient since he probably wouldn't be much of a help in some of the other areas.

While all the gang was busy helping Chase, on the fourth floor of the girls' dorm two other people were preparing for something much less pleasant.

* * *

John banged, rather than knocked, on Tiffany's door only thirty minutes after finals ended because as he warned her, he wanted to leave promptly after they ended.

She opened the door and walked away back into her room without even glancing at him. She was still packing a few things.

John looked at the massive pile of bags in the middle of the room and asked, "Is this all yours?"

"Who's else would it be? Jenna and Morgan are already gone," Tiffany replied waspishly.

John ran a hand though his hair as he sighed and continued to eye the pile, "I don't think my car can hold all that."

"Big surprise that that heap of rust is disappointing," Tiffany said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She still hadn't actually looked at him though, avoidance had really become a talent for her. She scattered back and fourth around the room gathering things and putting them in an open suitcase on her bed, she didn't need everything she was putting in, but she did need the distraction. She tried to turn things more normal, or just angry, anything but the weirdness that just seemed to exist, "My dad offers to buy you a car and you get that piece of crap. That's just more proof of why you're here on an athletic scholarship and not an academic one."

"A '67 Chevy Camero is a classic. And I couldn't just let your dad spend a ton of money on a car for me. I paid for half of the car so far and I fully intend to pay him back the rest and fix this car up," John argued

Tiffany began muttering as she continued to pack random things and one word John could definitely make out was "idiot". Since she was clearly occupied he figured he might as well get started hauling her bags to the car. He picked up a few shopping bags and peaked inside as he did so. He asked, "Did you do enough shopping?"

She had caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye and what she saw made her look at him fully for the first time since he had gotten there. He was looking through her stuff. That was so rude! "Stay out of there!" she snapped.

She made a move to grab the bag, but he held the bag above his head and since he was taller than her it was out of her reach. She tried to jump for the bag, but he kept moving around making sure she didn't get it. He found the frustrated expression she was wearing really amusing, he had never seen her so riled up.

To antagonize her further he started taking things out of the bag. The first thing he pulled out was a bag that had a Hawaiian print on it. He narrated as he went along, "A bag." He pulled out a cute watch and read the box, "A Nixon Vega watch." He pulled out a small make up kit and read, "Mix Tape." The next thing he pulled out seemed to be some kind of kit accompanied by a book and he eyed it confused, "Rainbow hairstyles?" Tiffany had given up and stopped jumping for the bag, resigned to the fact that he was going to find out. Now he was confused. Sure neither the bag or the watch seemed like her taste, but he also didn't know her that well. But the hair thing definitely couldn't be for her and neither could the next thing, a slip of paper that read, "A two year subscription to _Teen_ _Vogue_?"

Tiffany took advantage of his baffled state and took the paper and kit from his hands first as she said, "They're for Hailey."

Hailey? As in his thirteen year old sister? That they could possibly be for her somehow didn't occur to him. "For my Hailey?" he questioned.

"Yes. It's Christmas, you get people gifts," she replied angrily as she took the rest of the things from him and sat down on her bed as she carefully returned them to the bag.

"I didn't know you were going to get us anything," he said honestly.

"Of course I did," she said keeping her eyes downcast on her task of re-packing the bag. She revealed, "I got your brother a Ducati Monster Motocycle that Toys 'R Us is delivering next week. I got your mom a day at my favorite spa." She looked up and her eyes met his where he was at in the middle of her room and she said quietly, "And I got you something, I just have to pick it up."

He seemed stunned in silence. It wasn't that he didn't think she'd get them anything, he hadn't actually assumed that she wouldn't, he just didn't really think about it at all.

Tiffany, her eyes downcast again focusing on finishing off her suitcase, added in the silence, "Don't worry about not getting me anything though. I wouldn't expect you to." She didn't mean for it to sound like she wouldn't expect him to be that thoughtful, but with her constant lack of friendliness towards him she just didn't think she deserved it.

"No, I got you something," John quickly replied. Her eyes snapped back up to meet his, completely surprised. He continued, "And I got you something for your birthday that's coming up in…five days, right?"

Tiffany simply nodded in response, unable to do anything else or have a single comprehensible thought. Her eyes had left his again, trying to not get hopeful at the fact that after everything he was being so nice.

John gathered up as many bags as he could take and said, "I'm going to take these down to my car. I'll be right back."

Tiffany nodded again, her back now to him as she carefully folded a top and placed it in her case. Once she heard the door shut she couldn't help the small smile forming on her face. She knew it was a really bad idea to even let herself think of him as anything other than a horrible annoyance for even a second, but she couldn't help herself. He was the only guy she ever came across that didn't show any type of interest in her, but he did get her gifts and it was small and probably didn't mean anything, but it could. It was a tiny possibility, but it was the first time she ever noticed any type of possibility with him. She never let herself be the girl that was into the guy, especially this one, except for this small second when she was alone in her room and she smiled. Maybe winter break wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

At five Chase's only tasks left were ones that he could only do on his own so the gang left him to change into more appropriate clothing for the activities the night would hold.

At five thirty Zoey sat in her room alone wondering where everyone was. She expected at least some of them to be early, but since none of them had anything to do anymore she couldn't understand why they'd be late.

At five thirty-three, Zoey received a knock at her door followed by Chase entering. She immediately smiled, not having seen him all afternoon she was glad he was the first to arrive.

"Hi. Everyone's late," Zoey said with a small pout as she got up from her seat at her desk.

"No they're exactly where they're supposed to be," Chase said cryptically as a mischievous smile spread across his face.

Zoey couldn't help continuing to smile, especially with him smiling, but she also couldn't help being completely confused.

When her brow crumpled in bewilderment, Chase's lopsided grin got wider. He instructed, "Turn around and close your eyes."

Zoey did so because despite everything that had happened between them, she still trusted him completely. She could feel Chase's presence close behind her and then her eyes were covered by what she was pretty sure was a scarf. And then something plastic was being slipped over her head, but it did have a hole for her head. A trash bag with a hole cut out, maybe? It came down to about her knees and she could hear and sense Chase moving behind her, it sounded like he was putting on a trash bag too. Zoey was getting more confused by the second.

"Come on," Chase said as he guided her with his hands on her shoulders. He turned her around and walked her out her door and she could hear him shut the door behind them. They turned right down her hallway and then right again but then they went up the stairs. _Up?_ She thought. But only more rooms and the roof was up and their roof was horrible.

"Step up," Chase instructed at the first stair, but Zoey's sense of measurement was horrible and her step way to big. Chase had assumed that the stairs wouldn't be a problem, but he was wrong. Zoey was stumbling and they hadn't even made it half a flight.

At Zoey's first step she had missed the first stair and found one foot on the landing before the stair and one on the third stair from the landing, which caused her to fall forward a bit, but she caught her self. Chase took her hands from the stairs and held them in his as he pulled her up. "Take smaller steps," Chase instructed as he tired to lead her up the stairs, walking backwards so he could keep his hands holding hers and watch her to ensure she didn't stumble again.

Zoey lifted her right foot and searched blindly for the next stair this time and advised, "Maybe it would have been a better idea to put the blindfold on after the stairs."

Chase chuckled slightly and replied, "But I can't have you knowing where were going."

"We're going…" Zoey faltered as Chase took both of her hands in one of his and gently grabbed her bent knee to her searching foot and guided it down to the correct step. His hand brushed down her jean clad calf as he firmly set it on the step. If the stair well wasn't so poorly lit then Chase might have been able to see the blush that creeping into her cheeks. Zoey realized she was saying something and tried to ignore the wonderful tingling sensation that was occurring in her entire leg. She continued after what felt like an hour, but in reality was at the most a minute, "We're going up, hence you telling me to step up."

"But you don't know where we're going up," Chase said and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"There aren't that many options," she reminded. But he didn't continue to discuss what they were doing, he just continued to slowly and carefully lead her up the stairs.

It went much quicker with Chase leading Zoey and guiding her leg to the correct step, but though it was quicker and safer than the initial Zoey falling and Chase simply saying, "Step up," it still took them almost thirty minutes for them to get to the door that Chase stopped them at.

Zoey knew that they stopped at the door to the roof because she knew how many flights it was from her floor to the roof. Though she could have complained about the blindfold so far being useless, after that first misstep, she really didn't feel the desire to complain about anything Chase was doing.

Zoey heard the door creek as Chase opened it and felt the cold breeze of the December night air on her face. With his hand on the small of her back he guided her forward, but instead of stepping out onto the concrete of the roof like she expected, Zoey found herself stepping on something light and small and that flew up a bit around her feet when she stepped on it. Confetti maybe?

She could feel the brush of Chase's arm behind her head and suddenly the blindfold fell off. The once rather crappy roof had tons of fake and real trees with hundreds of little lights on them completely illuminating the roof. And everything was absolutely covered in fake white snow, the light tiny confetti white pieces seeming to even pile in places. At the center of it all, all wearing ponchos which was what Zoey suddenly realized had been put on her, were her smiling friends.

"Welcome to your very own winter wonderland," Chase said quietly from his position next to her and suddenly awaking her to his presence because she had been lost in taking everything in.

She turned to him and asked completely surprised, "You did all this?"

"Well I had help," he replied with a nod to their friends.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged tightly, as if doing so would get rid of her shock. "Thank you so much. This is the best gift," Zoey said sincerely.

"Oh no, this isn't all," Chase said, which made Zoey pull away from the hug and look at him curiously. He smiled and explained, "Well, first, one of the best things about snow is snowball fights. This fake stuff isn't so good for that, so I had to improvise." Chase walked to the nearest tree a couple of feet away and pulled out a bucket from behind it. It was overflowing with sugary pink balls. Looking down at the bucket in his hand and not at her he said, "I got Snowballs, so we could have a snowball fight. And in case any of them burst open in the fight we have the ponchos so our clothes don't get chocolaty."

Hearing the rustling of plastic from the ponchos behind her, Zoey leaned toward Chase and whispered, "Do they have Snowballs too?"

"Yep. It looks like they're loading up," Chase replied quietly as he glanced over her shoulder.

"Think we can take them?" Zoey asked with a playful smile.

"Oh definitely," Chase said, his lopsided grin widening. "On the count of three," Chase said priming one of his hands over the bucket. Zoey nodded and did the same, smiling still. Keeping eye contact with him, she knew what he was going to do and at the same time yelled, "Three." They both grabbed snowball and launched them at their friends. A screech was quickly let out by Nicole as the other side returned the attack.

The good natured act of pelting their friends with a processed dessert product went on for almost an hour before all the Snowballs were in pieces and further use not possible. Then the blankets that Chase stored up there were brought out and placed on the ground and Kazu treated them to sushi that was promptly delivered at the time Chase had asked.

After eating, they decided that instead of everyone opening all their gifts at once, they would all take turns opening their gifts while the rest watched. It had been Nicole's suggestion/request because she really wanted to know what everyone got.

Logan opened his gifts first declaring that the order that they went in should be in order of attractiveness and since he was the hottest one, he got to go first. "Two mirrors? Score," he said, delighted after opening Chase's and Zoey's gifts first. Next he opened an envelope, it was a gift card from Michael, "Sportsmart, always useful. Thanks Mike."

Continuing on he opened Quinn's gift. Quinn had gotten everyone the exact same thing. Logan pulled out of her bag what appeared to be a legal document that said that she would not be performing any experiments on any of them without their prior knowledge and agreement to. It was actually a gift they all really appreciated. She also gave them a banana-apple, which she swore were perfect now and she had been eating them for months and had found absolutely nothing wrong with them. And she got everyone a small gift certificate to the campus movie theater.

After thanking Quinn, Logan opened Nicole's gift. "Beef jerky?" he said a little confused because it was an unusual gift.

"Well, I couldn't really think of anything to get you guys. I know you like sports and video games, and we all know you like yourself and hair gel Logan, but I didn't want to get any of that stuff. And the only other thing I could think of that you guys enjoy is eating. So I got you food," Nicole explained.

Logan, feeling a bit peckish, had already opened the package and said with a mouthful and showing everyone what half chewed beef jerky looked like, "It's great. Thanks Nicole."

"Ladies Man," Logan said reading the cover of the DVD Lola got him. "You got that right," he said cockily with a smirk. And with a thank you to Lola he moved on to his last gift, from Dana. He opened the box and found a T-shirt. He read the front of it out loud, "I'm unreliable, disorganized, inefficient, unmotivated, and immature, but at least I'm fun." He turned to her, she was sitting right next to him which was where she always seemed to be lately…or maybe it was him. He revealed with a slight chuckle, "I thought it was going to say, 'Dropped on my head as a child."

She shrugged and replied, "Well it's Christmas, I thought I'd be nice." As an afterthought she added, "ish."

"Well this is really nice. Good compliment," he said seriously.

"You would think that," Dana said with a snicker because of course he would think being called any of the opposites of the first half of the list as a bad thing and them in their as printed form actually good.

Logan was done with all of his gifts and continuing with decided the order the way he proposed he said glancing around the circle, "I don't know. You guys are all about the same." He lifted his hand as far above his head he could reach it and said, "I'm up here at super hot." He moved his other hand down around about the middle of his chest and said, "And all of you are all down here at mediocre hot. I know what you're thinking. Why do I, super hot, hang out with so many mediocre? Well, even you guys deserve something great to look at."

Ignoring Logan's egotistical rant since they were oh so common, Lola jumped in and suggested, "How about we just go around the circle and, Dana, you go next?"

No one had any objections so Dana started opening her presents. She got a black and white checkered scarf from Michael, hand made beaded earrings from Zoey, and an assortment of eye shadows, lip glosses, and blush from Nicole who said all her selections would look really good on her. From Logan she got what Logan got for everyone, a fifty dollar iTunes gift card. Chase gave her a T-shirt that said Save Ferris, because he knew she liked the movie it referenced, _Ferris Buller's Day Off_, and T-shirts.

But Dana was confused by Lola's gift. "_A Lot Like Love_?" she read from the DVD case.

"Yep. Think about it," Lola said quietly beside her. She was going to get a gift that wasn't hinting at anything, but it was a good movie, in her opinion at least so she gave into the desire to try and break through the denial.

Since Lola was next to Dana her turn came next. She went directly for what she knew was Michael's gift and received a red rose colored scarf that she immediately put on because it was getting increasingly freezing on the roof. Like Dana she got specially picked out make up from Nicole, pretty hand made earrings from Zoey, and the same gift card from Logan. From Chase she got a DVD, _South Pacific_, which was near the top of her favorite musicals list and she didn't actually own it yet so she was glad to finally have it.

Noticing that Lola had opened all her gifts, Dana said, "Okay, I guess I should tell you what I got you. Well, actually I got all the girls the same thing. I got us one day all access passes to Pacific Park at the Santa Monica Pier. I couldn't think of any really good gifts so I thought we might enjoy a girls' day of fun at an amusement park and that we could take the bus down one day next semester. I bought the passes; they're holding them under my name for whenever you guys want to go."

All the girls loved the idea and immediately thanked Dana.

Returning to opening gifts it was Michael's turn next. He opened Lola's gift first and got _Rudy._ He loved sports movies, which she knew, and he hadn't actually seen this one in a while so he was looking forward to it, it had always been one of his favorites. After opening Quinn's combination gift and Logan's gift card, Michael opened Chase's gift and found what appeared to be a statue of Jesus in a box.

Seeing Michael confused, Chase explained, "It's an Ask Jesus. It's like a Magic Eight Ball, but instead of an eight ball it's a Jesus."

"You know my mom who spends every Sunday in church is going to hate this right?" Michael asked reading the back of the box.

Chase hadn't actually thought of Michael's mom, but knowing her somewhat he said, "Yeah I have the receipt-"

"No," Michael cut him off, "I said my mom wouldn't like it, but I've got some questions for it. Thanks man."

"Your welcome," Chase politely replied.

From Dana, Micahel received a T-shirt that said "Mr. Potato Head." Next Michael opened Zoey's gift, which was a football helmet of his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins, that held chips and dip. And it also went with Nicole's gift, which was four bags of chips. "Did you guys collaborate?" he asked as he ripped into the chips.

"No actually," Zoey answered for them.

"This is a great gift. Thank you," was what it sounded like Michael said through his mouthful of chips.

Nicole, next to Michael, began opening her gifts since he was done. She first cooed over the earrings Zoey made for her. Then she opened Michael's gift to find pale pink scarf that had bright pink hearts on it. "Yay pink!," she said with an excited clap of her hands before she too, like Lola, put the scarf on due to the cold weather. She got the same gift card from Logan and package from Quinn as everyone else. She went for Lola's gift next and received a DVD of _Sugar and Spice_, the tale of the cheerleaders who robbed a bank, but whenever she watched it she concentrated more on the hot guy who played Jack. And finally from Chase she received a Sephora gift card and she already knew a lot of things she wanted to buy with it and choosing was going to be so difficult.

Quinn opened her presents next. She had noticed a theme in Lola's gifts and she was curious to see what DVD she got. She opened it up and saw the box read _Love Potion_ _Number Nine_. "I've never seen this," she said flipping it over to scan the summary on the back.

"It's about two scientists who fall in love," Lola said and added as a bit of an after thought, "and this mysterious potion."

"It's super cute," Nicole added having seen the movie many times.

Quinn continued to open her gifts and found the same gift card from Logan, pretty beaded earrings made by and from Zoey, and a specially picked out make up selection from Nicole. From Michael she received an orange and white striped scarf, which she liked because orange was one of her favorite colors and it was super soft. Chase's box was rather large.

As she tore into the box Chase prepared to explain, he began, "It's a-"

"A Harry Potter hat," Quinn finished excitedly as she finished pulling it out of the box. She tried it on and said, "This is going to be great for when I dress up to see the movies or buy the next book at midnight when it comes out. Thanks Chase."

"Your welcome," he replied politely and relieved. When he bought the hat he was only about seventy five percent sure that Quinn was really into _Harry Potter._

Zoey was next and she opened the gifts she knew first, the gift card from Logan and package from Quinn. Next she received her specially selected combination of make up from Nicole. She opened Michael's gift and found a dark green plaid flannel scarf and she knew Chase must have had a hand in its selection. She got _The Princess Bride_ from Lola, which had always been one of her favorite movies and books.

She still had one more package in front of her and it said it was from Chase. As she opened it she said sincerely grateful, "You didn't have to get me anything else Chase, you already did so much." Chase didn't reply, he just let her dig her gift out of the box. She pulled out a stuffed giraffe, her favorite animal she once told him. She smiled and said earnestly, "Thank you Chase, he's adorable."

Chase didn't say anything for fear that if he spoke he would blurt out that he had more gifts in store for her once they were alone.

Finally, it was Chase's turn to open his gifts. Like Zoey he went for the gifts he knew first, the ones from Logan and Quinn. He opened Michael's to find he got the same gift card to Sportsmart that Logan had, which as Logan said really was useful. From Nicole he got a tub of giant chocolate chip cookies, but unlike Logan and Michael he resisted digging in and showing everyone what half eaten food looked like. Dana got him a T-shirt that had a picture of a chicken beating an egg with the question "Who came first?" printed above it. _Say Anything_ was the DVD he got from Lola and the reference was not at all lost on him. He opened his gift from Zoey last and was happy to find a plaid flannel shirt, blue this time.

"Thank you," he said turning to her with an enormous lopsided smile.

"Your welcome," Zoey replied politely, but like Chase she was hiding the fact that she wasn't done giving him stuff yet, she was just waiting until they were alone.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere between Malibu and Santa Barbara, Tiffany awoke with a start knocking her earphones out of her ears in the process, but was somewhat restrained by a seatbelt. Geez, it seemed really dark out. She glanced at the clock in the dash and saw that it was just after seven. Then she remembered why she was still there and how they were still surrounded by cars. She felt like she had been asleep a while, but it didn't look like they had moved very far. She could have sworn that the VW van with the Kerry 04 sticker on it was by them when she fell asleep and it was still there.

"In the hour and half or so that you've been asleep we've only moved about eleven miles," John said answering the questions on her mind.

Tiffany let out a frustrated groan, they had left for Santa Barbara five hours ago and it was only supposed to take about an hour and a half to get there. She complained, "I could have walked there faster than this."

"Probably more than once," John added good naturedly and just as frustrated with insane amount of traffic.

Tiffany noticed the iPod in her lap had a blank screen, and it seemed darker than usual. She realized that she fell asleep with her iPod on and muttered, "Damn it." She knew that letting that slip probably got attention and sure enough when she glanced up John was looking at her curiously. She explained with a gesture to her iPod, "The battery probably ran out while I was asleep."

"It shouldn't have," John said shaking his head. He revealed, "Once you fell asleep I turned it off so it wouldn't die."

"Thanks," Tiffany replied, surprised by his niceness again. So an awkward silence wouldn't settle over them she commented, "It seems darker than usual out."

John suddenly burst out laughing but Tiffany was completely baffled. He managed to calm down somewhat after a minute and managed to point to her eyes.

Tiffany reached up and was horrified to find that she was still wearing her sunglasses, thus the cause of the darker darkness. She slid them up onto her head as a completely embarrassed blush rose on her cheeks. "I'm such an idiot," she said describing exactly how she felt.

John had calmed down from his fit of laughter and said, "It's alright. You just woke up, weren't fully alert yet."

That made her feel a bit better, but why was he being so nice?

Tiffany decided that maybe she shouldn't put her iPod back on and completely ignore him. He was being nice and she could try being friendly as well. He was supposed to be her brother now, right? They should be able to talk.

A minute passed in complete and total silence. Tiffany didn't want to speak first, plus she had no idea what to say. That never happened to her with guys, she was great with them usually. She figured it was the whole he's supposed to be her brother thing throwing her off. But she was ridged and completely nervous as she sat still in her seat staring at the unmoving cars in front of them. It was only a minute of silence, but it felt like forever.

Finally John said, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you." Tiffany glanced at him, he had his eyes on the road and was inching the car forward as they barely got to move forward. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting since, well, we met basically. I haven't treated you very well and-"

"What?" Tiffany cut him off confused, "You've been nice, I'm the one that's been a bitch."

John didn't deny that she was right about her behavior, because she really had been a bitch, but he continued honestly, "I haven't been great to you, not at all. It was just…this time last year I come home and my mom was spending some nights out, but she didn't say where or with who. Then New Years morning she came home engaged to some guy I've never met. I come back from school for spring break and she marries a guy I've met briefly before the ceremony and he happens to have a daughter who I recognize from school because they met at orientation over a year and a half before that, and she just never told me. Then I come home for summer and it's to your house where my mom and my sister and my brother are all comfortable and have a routine because they've been living there with your dad for months. This situation is just really weird and I think I took my lack of adapting to it out on you and I'm sorry."

"Yeah well, I've been doing the same with you," Tiffany revealed. She looked away from him as she explained, "When I came home last year I found a poorly hidden jewelry box. I thought my dad got me earrings for my birthday or Christmas and when I opened it I found an engagement ring. Imagine my surprise; I didn't even know he was seeing someone, he never told me. I didn't ask him about it, I just waited for the day that he came home and told me he was getting married. I didn't find out that I would be getting step siblings until the wedding, he was sure he had mentioned it, but that's something I would have remembered. And I came home in the summer to a house full of people I didn't know. I haven't adjusted well either, maybe not at all. I've taken it out on you and the team and I'm sorry."

John appreciated the apology and he understood it. He understood that they both had been thrown for a loop with their parent's sudden marriage and neither one of them was dealing with it well. He intended to try and adjust from now on. But to make both of them feel better he commented, "Well, we probably shouldn't feel too bad. I mean, I blame our parents."

Tiffany laughed a little and had a small smile on her face when she turned back to him and said, "You know that just because I'm sorry doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to be nice. I've never been that nice."

"Yeah you are," John quickly countered. Tiffany looked at him doubtfully, because really she knew that most people considered her to be completely heartless and she never did much to change their minds. He explained why he thought she was nice by saying, "You taught Trevor how to swim. That was nice."

"Everyone was letting him run around the backyard with the pool there and he didn't know how to swim. It was completely unsafe. He's six he could have fallen in and hit his head and drowned or something," Tiffany quickly retorted as if it excused her actions and made it not a nice act.

He smiled at her and said, "It's still nice. Plus, if you weren't nice, then how did you become Trevor and Haley's favorite person?"

"I am not," Tiffany promptly denied, though she had come to really like them quite a bit. Trevor was probably the most adorable six year old she had ever met and Haley was just nice and unique and she seemed to really like hanging around Tiffany.

"Yes you are," John countered, "You are their favorite because you're really good with them. And if you keep buying them gifts like the ones you got them this Christmas then I don't think I'm going to be able to compete. You will forever be their favorite older sibling."

"Sibling" seemed to put a damper on things. She was glad the kids liked her and all but…for a minute there she forgot that he was supposed to be her "sibling" now.

She didn't respond. She was lost in thought as she stared out the passenger side window.

He glanced at her trying to decipher if she was okay or if he had said something wrong. He didn't really know her that well, so he couldn't really read her. She was pretty beautiful though, when she was being real like now. He shook his head and returned his eyes to the road full of unmoving cars in front of them. He wasn't supposed to have thoughts like that. Sure he didn't have romantic feelings towards her and the thought was innocent enough, but still not appropriate given the fact that they were supposed to be family now.

"Did you ever hear a traffic report?" she asked suddenly in the silence having remembered that before she fell asleep he had been searching for a traffic report on AM radio.

"Yeah," he replied coming out of blocking his thoughts, "there were two over turned semis just North of our exit. But that accident kind of cause five others, two small and three big. There's a lot to clean up apparently. But our exit is only about ten miles away so we should finally be getting off the 101 and hopefully there's no traffic in town, they didn't report any when I caught the traffic report about twenty minutes before you woke up."

She nodded, but he was keeping his eyes forward and didn't see her. Silence settled over them again, an awkward silence this time.

He finally came up with something to say after a couple of minutes and said, "Well, if there's traffic on the way back to school I guess you'll be stuck in it in the Mazarati your dad's probably getting you for your birthday."

"Being stuck in a Mazarati would probably be nice. This," she said with a glance to the torn vinyl seats, "is torture."

Tiffany continued to poke fun at his car as John continued to defend it. They somehow got talking about her birthday plans and eventually their family's holiday traditions. It wasn't necessarily sibling like, but it wasn't like they were flirting either. It was somewhere in between, somewhere comfortable and good. The rest of the ten miles on highway 101 and hour of stop and go traffic, actually seemed to pass rather quickly as they continued to talk. And the thought Tiffany had had in her dorm room would turn out to be true, winter break wouldn't be bad for either one of them, not at all.

* * *

Back at PCA, Chase and Zoey had finally been left alone together on the roof. Everyone else had left claiming that they had things to do, which was true, but also wanting to give the two time alone in the hopes of progress.

As soon as they were alone they blurted out at the same time, "I have more stuff for you."

They both laughed and Zoey repeated her earlier claim, "You didn't need to get me anything else."

"You didn't need to get me anything else," Chase retorted and Zoey rolled her eyes.

"Well…" she said and trailed off as she got up and got five boxes she had hidden behind a tree when she came back up with her presents earlier that evening, "you go first."

Chase did as she asked and opened the first box to find another plaid flannel shirt, green this time. The second box had a lighter blue one, the third a black and white one, and the fourth one that looked like the school's colors. "This is great," he said genuinely liking each of the shirts.

"Really? Because a couple of weeks ago Nicole had mentioned something about how you always wear that plaid flannel shirt, the red one from the dance and stuff, and then I noticed that you do wear it a lot so I thought you may like these," Zoey rambled still nervous and unsure about her gift selection.

"Yeah, I love these, they're perfect," Chase assured with his crooked smile.

Chase grabbed the last box and was expecting another shirt, but pulled out a pink sweater. He didn't want to sound like he didn't like her gift so he said slowly, "This is uh…nice."

"It's not for you," she laughed because it was a woman's sweater, how could he seriously think that she would want him to wear it? She explained, "You said you didn't know what to get your mom and I saw this when I was shopping for my mom and from what you've said about her I just thought she might like it. And from your pictures I guessed that she was a medium. But if it doesn't fit or she just doesn't like it, the receipts in the box."

Chase still wasn't sure exactly what it was. Sure he got the part about it being a sweater for his mom, but, "So you got my mom a gift?"

"No, I got you a gift to give to your mom," Zoey revealed, now nervous about whether he would like this gift.

Chase didn't hesitate to hug her and say, "Thank you so much. I had no idea what to get her and I think she'll really like it, like I love the shirts."

Chase pulled away and said, "Now it's time for your gifts."

"Gifts?" she questioned, "But you've already gotten me gifts." She kept emphasizing the "s" because he was really doing too much, always humble by nature she didn't feel like she deserved it.

Chase, like Zoey, had hidden the other gifts behind one of the many trees and brought out two giant bags before joining her on the blanket in the middle of the roof again. "Merry Christmas," he said with a smile as he set them down between them and sat facing her.

Zoey dug into the first bag and pulled out a role of Brawny paper towels. She smiled despite the cheesiness of it.

Chase commented, mostly out of nervousness that she wasn't going to like any of his gifts, "Just to you know…remember the dance and how we ended up there dressed in matching red plaid flannel."

Zoey nodded in understanding, but her hands were back in the bag and she pulled out a cup of noodles, and another, and another, and another. She raised her eyebrow at him curiously as she pulled out what turned out to be twelve cups.

He answered her unasked question, "Just in case you get all busy and neglectful again, you won't run out of food."

"Well I shouldn't run out now," Zoey said with a smile as she reached into the bag. She laughed as she saw that the entire rest of the content of the bag were, "Snowballs?"

"To remember tonight," Chase explained.

"I'm not going to forget," Zoey assured.

Zoey moved on to the smaller bag and found a small box, it looked like a jewelry box, which caused her to once again eye Chase baffled. She peered into the box and saw a thin silver chain.

She actually knew why he got it, but before she could say so he anxiously explained, "You had mentioned that your chain for your key seemed to chunky and-"

"You got me one that's thin and perfect," Zoey said cutting him of and smiling.

She reached for the last thing in the bag and unwrapped it. As soon as she saw what it contained she stopped opening it, too caught up in it. It was an eight by ten black and white picture of them together at the dance in a black frame. They were dancing and Chase was looking down at her and she was smiling up at him with her arms wrapped around his neck and his around her waist. The other people seemed to be a dark blur of dark gray around them, with them brighter than everyone else.

She was quite and Chase was getting increasingly fearful by the second. After almost thirty seconds passed he couldn't contain himself any longer and started explaining, "At the dance Dana saw us dancing and she borrowed Hank's camera and took a picture. She gave it to me a while ago and I thought you might like to have it."

Zoey found her voice and her thoughts and replied, "Yeah, I really would like to have it. But not if it leaves you without a copy."

Chase smiled a little, starting to believe that she liked it, and replied, "We'll get me a copy made when we come back."

Zoey set the picture carefully to the side and leaned forward closing the space between them. She hugged him tightly again and he decided he didn't mind if she was suffocating him, he'd let her squeeze the life out of him any time she wanted. She said quietly and sincerely, "Everything was just…beyond perfect. I could never thank you enough."

"You don't need to. You're worth it," Chase whispered in response.

Eventually they separated and continued with their last night together before break, but even when Zoey would replay his words in her head she still didn't see their meaning. She thought he was a great friend, a great guy, who was genuinely sweet and she knew she was lucky to have him in her life. But what she still didn't see was what everyone else was saying could easily be seen if she paid attention. Like how she would have seen him look like he missed her when she left his arms. She knew from everyone that she was looking for something in him, but not knowing what, all she could find was a really terrific person that she would hopefully have in her life for a very long time.

* * *

Downstairs in her and Dana's room, Lola and Michael exchanged extra gifts they had gotten each other. Lola got him a Sportsmart gift card because when he purchased his for the guys he had kept stopping to look at things in the store. And Michael got Lola the Audrey Hepburn collection because she had recently gotten into classic movies and Audrey had become her favorite actress.

They sat quietly together on her couch for a while watching Sabrina, but Lola couldn't help letting thoughts creep into her mind. When she had thanked Michael for her gift she had hugged him, she had pulled away and stayed in his arms staring up at him, she thought they had a moment. She thought he would finally kiss her. And she wasn't lying the other day when she had told the girls that she liked the slow pace, but when he didn't take the opportunity she couldn't help but wonder if he really wanted to.

Eventually, they headed down to join Nicole at the Christmas party. Lola had needed the distraction and Nicole had called saying that they needed more people to enjoy the holiday fun.

* * *

Quinn had been taken somewhere by Jack, as his gift to her. She didn't really know where they were, but he had brought them to an observatory with a giant telescope. She decided it was a thoughtful gift and she employed Nicole's suggestion and brought two gifts, but she gave him the non-generic one as well. She was assured it was the right choice when he thanked her and kissed her cheek in a very gentlemanly fashion because he was ever the gentleman and never one to move in a direction without proper consent. Quinn appreciated it, but since she wasn't going to see him again for over two weeks she was feeling a bit daring. In his car when they returned to the parking lot of the school later that night after hours stargazing, she kissed him quickly on the lips and wished him a merry Christmas, which, once he regained thought and came out of shock, he realized it was going to be a very merry Christmas.

* * *

When Dana and Logan reached his room for some time alone, he stopped them before even kissing her by confessing, "I kind of got you something else besides the gift card." She was a little surprised, but more amused because he rambled on, "I thought that I should show my appreciation for this" he gestured between them and struggled for a description, "no strings, make out thing." He reached under his bed and pulled out an box and opened it up as he said, "I didn't actually buy you anything, but I had it and I don't use it because I have a bunch of them and I thought you might want it since you don't have one." He pulled out a digital camera and said, "Because it's just insane that you're on yearbook and all into photography and you don't have a digital camera."

He was holding it out to her and as she took it from his hand their fingers brushed. She already wasn't breathing because the second she saw the camera she knew what it was, "A Cannon PowerShot G7 with a zoom equivalent to a 35 to 210 millimeter and facial recognition, continuous shooting, and it's waterproof!"

"Uh okay," Logan said, not really understanding what anything she said meant. "Is it good, because I was using another one I have but if this is better maybe I should keep it for myself," he said, but he wasn't serious.

"No, you're not getting this back," she said stepping a step back to get it out of his grasp. She was playing with it and turned it on as she said, "I mean, I completely shouldn't accept this because it's like five hundred dollars or six, but you said it was an extra and you weren't using it so I'm going to pretend that it's okay and I'm not giving it back. You'd have to beat me to get it away from me now." She was completely serious too. She knew the gift was too much and under normal circumstances she wouldn't have accepted it, but he had given her an excuse to and she really wanted it. And she wasn't even going to let herself think about the fact that it was the best gift she had ever gotten and it was from Logan.

She was already smiling, really happy with the gift, but she got an idea and a smirk appeared across her face. She came up to him and said, "I think my first picture should be of my latest hobby."

"What's that?" he asked with a furrowed brow, looking down at her.

She replied by leaning forward and kissing him. He responded immediately and wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her closer and held her jaw gently with his other hand. She had one arm around his back and the other held out and they could see the flash going off, despite their closed eyes, as she kept pressing the button on the camera to keep taking pictures of them. Later it would be seen in the pictures that neither one of them could seem to stop a smile from forming on their faces as they continued with their newest hobby.

When Dana found her hand with her camera in it wrapped around Logan's back and the camera forgotten and Logan stepping in the direction of his bed, she realized they couldn't end up there, not yet.

She pulled away and explained, "I almost forgot, I got you something too. And I didn't spend money on it either, I don't have any more money."

"You stole it?" he guessed as he saw her reach into the back pocket of her jeans.

"People don't call me danger for nothing," she said as she held out a sprig of mistletoe that she had taken from the cafeteria, which was actually where they had gotten some to the decorations for the roof earlier that day.

"Mistletoe, awesome," Logan said taking it, "This'll come in handy."

"I thought you'd like it," Dana commented, knowing well what his favorite activity was. She pulled out a film case from one of her other pockets and opened it and dumped its contents into her hand. It was a tack and she explained, "This came with it."

He took it from her and pretended to contemplate where to hang it, but pulled up his desk chair, climbed on top and put it in the ceiling right above her head. She smiled to herself as he climbed back down and pushed the chair away.

"Good choice," she complimented, trying not to smile more because it already felt like she was so much. He shrugged, playing it cool and acting like it was nothing. She continued, "Now you get the rest of your gift."

"What?" he demanded immediately.

She walked him backwards to his bed and said cryptically before kissing him, "With how persistent you are I'm sure you'll figure it out soon."

Ten minutes later Logan pulled away and sat back up on his bed. He explained, looking as though he'd really rather not, "I kind of have to talk to you and I should really do it before I get completely distracted when I figure out what you meant by the rest of my gift. I know talking is bad, but I swear I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to."

Dana sat up from where she had been beneath him, a little annoyed, and said, "Fine."

"Alright," Logan said with a nod. He took a deep breath and explained, "Every year right after Christmas my parents go back to work. Around New Years I go to Big Bear, because the plan is that they'll join me for skiing and whatever, but they never do, at least not lately. They're usually still off working somewhere far away on New Years eve and they just don't make it. I am usually really bored because the only girls there are ones on vacations with their families and they're not so easy to convince to make out."

"I thought the devil was supposed to be bewitching," Dana cut in, delighting in the opportunity to hassle him.

"Apparently girls are immune to it when their entire family is nearby," Logan replied. He moved on to his original task quickly, "Anyway, since we have this arrangement, I was wondering if…" he trailed off because damn this was exactly as hard as he thought it would be. He took a deep breath and said quickly, "If I pay for your room and your flight, all very nice, if you would come and be my make out person there to." He saw the complete shock that she couldn't hide from her face and he rushed on, "I mean, we wouldn't actually be there together, it's not like I want you on my vacation and I really don't care what else you would do there. I just want someone to make out with when I want to, like I have here."

Dana asked what she saw as the most obvious question, "And how exactly am I going to do this? I mean, what would I be telling my parents?"

"I don't know, it's not my problem," Logan answered really not having thought about things from her angle because as usual he was only thinking of himself.

She was quiet for a second and he was getting ready to try and retract all of it, claim it was some kind of joke. He was nervous and he didn't know why. She finally said, "Alright."

"What?" he asked, the nervousness suddenly fading.

"It's a free trip. I won't have to see you anymore than I do now. I'll figure out something to tell my parents, though I can't guarantee it will work. But if it does work, I'll go," Dana said because it wasn't a good idea, she knew, but she told herself that rationally she'd be really stupid to turn down a free vacation and more time away from her crazy family, because by New Years she knew she'd really want to get away from her family. And she would tell herself that she also agreed because she was caught up, and to have such little control around him was bad. But as they resumed their previous activities and Logan managed to figure out that his gift was that she wasn't calling him on some of the hand restrictions, she couldn't think of it as bad at all, and even if it was, she didn't care.

A few minutes before curfew Dana tried to leave, but Logan informed her that he had paid off both of their resident advisors for the rest of this semester and the next so that them and all their friends wouldn't get in trouble for being places they weren't supposed to be. Earlier that night he had also informed Chase of the same thing, so he could stay out with Zoey if they wanted.

It turned out that they did want to disregard the rules like Logan and Dana. Though they weren't ignoring them for the same reasons, well to stay together yes, but Dana and Logan were staying together to make out and argue, while they stayed up on the roof and talked. The closest Logan and Dana came to talking after she agreed to go with him on his vacation was when he told her not to expect him to call her or anything over break. She assured him that even if he did call, she wouldn't answer a call from him because she didn't want to talk to him.

* * *

Zoey and Chase felt exactly the opposite. They were laying on the blankets next to each other, with one draped over their legs, and gazing up at the stars as they talked about anything and everything. Chase had taken the shirts from Zoey out of the boxes and made her put two on because it was freezing outside and he said he had been really scared of getting hypothermia ever since he saw an episode of _ER_ about it. But he insisted that she would absolutely have to give the shirts back when they left because he really wanted them.

_All the lights are coming on now_

Silence had settled between them. Zoey said honestly as she continued to stare at the stars, "I'm going to miss you."

_How I wish that it would snow now_

"I'm going to miss you too Zo," he said as he glanced at her quickly, and he knew that she'd have no idea how much he really would miss her. After all, she was the best thing about his life.

_I don't feel like going home now  
I wish that i could stay_

A shooting star was passing and Chase said to her, "Make a wish."

_All the trees are on display now  
And it's cold now_

Zoey thought for just a second, but with how everything had been, how wonderful this night was, she knew, "I don't have anything to wish for. Everything is perfect."

_I dont feel like going home now  
I wish that I could stay_

Chase turned his head to look at her and found she was looking at him. He smiled and she smiled back. Trying to not let things get awkward, and trying to tell himself that now was not the time to tell her no matter how much he wanted to, they were leaving in only a few hours so now just wasn't ideal. Chase said, "Well, I guess I'll have to waste the star on the only and pretty lame thing I can come up with."

_I wish that I could walk  
I wish that I could walk  
You home_

He glanced back up to the star that was fading from their sight, but he turned back to her when she asked, "What'd you wish for?"

_All the lights are coming on now  
How I wish that it would snow now _

He laughed and admitted, "That my grandpa would keep his pants on through Christmas day this year."

_I don't feel like going home now  
I wish that I could stay_

Zoey joined him in laughing and it was how they spent most of their night. They stayed on the roof talking, laughing, and just enjoying each others company until morning came and traveling in different directions home finally separated them.

_Santas coming to town  
With sequins in his hair  
Santas coming to town  
With sequins in his hair_

They said goodbye but tried not to dwell on it. Yes, it was goodbye, but only for a relatively brief amount of time. Soon they would find themselves back together again and back in the completely content world that the winter wonderland created, at least for a while.

* * *

**A/N: I really have to leave so I'm making this quick. **

**Again, sorry for any mistakes. **I included what everyone got and I hope that part didn't drag on too much because I thought of what everyone was getting everyone just so I could develop certain peoples and I figured, why not included it? You guys might like to know too.

If any of you have read my profile then you know I'm from California, but before you ask, no not Ripon like Chase, though it is a real place and I am familiar with it. I chose a place I'm familiar with because it will play a role much much much later.

**Hint (for much later):** Despite what Nicole says in this chapter, don't rule John out from her romantic future yet.

**Next Chapter:** Yes, it will be mainly Dana and Logan and the trip to Big Bear (a real place here in California). I don't want to give anything away and I haven't decided on a chapter title yet, but I promise plenty of DL goodness.

Please give my new story, **_Head Trip_**, a chance. If you're already reading, thank you, and the next chapter should be up in a week or so because as I said, I will be away for a while and without my or any computer.

**I will be able to check e-mail on my phone and I hope that if you've gotten this far you'll take the time to let me know what you thought of Christmas at PCA. **

**Thank you for reading and please do review!**

**-Sarah**


	10. 9: Caught Up: part 1

**A/N: Hello all! First, thank you again to those wonderful few of you who reviewed! You guys are the best. **

**WARNING:** This chapter had to be split in two. I was eleven pages past the point where this submission ends and I realized that I had at least fifteen more to go, which would have put the total well over sixty pages (at least). So, I found a decent place, one I can live with, and I split it. Yes, that means the next submission (which is just the last half of this chapter) will be DL centered as well. I wanted to be a bit further along with the second half before posting this, but I spent six hours yesterday taking a test (CSET) that my future depends on me passing and I don't think it went very well. I spent the rest of the day completely freaking out about it. Hopefully this is a more successful endeavor than the test felt.

Also, there is a **Very Important Note** at the bottom, if you're a reader on this site, you should read it.

**Music:** "Trouble Sleeping" by Corinne Bailey Rae and Glory Box by Portishead.

* * *

"_I'd rather spend one minute holding you than spend the rest of my life knowing I never could," _came Jimmy Livingston's, the Bubble Boy's, sincere words just before he passionately kissed the love of his life Chloe in the middle of her wedding ceremony to another man. 

Dana had no idea why she was watching this movie. She had returned to school an hour earlier, none of the other girls were back yet, and this was one of the first things she had found on TV. It was alright at first, filled with stupid and sometimes gross comedy, but now, now she was reminded why she shouldn't watch this movie.

It was the look on Jimmy's face, the one right before he kissed the girl in the wedding dress. She had seen the movie before and when she saw it before the look meant nothing to her, but now it was familiar. That "absolutely all I want is to kiss the girl I'm looking at" look, she had seen it the previous night. And whenever she didn't find something to distract her she wondered if the previous night was really the first time or if it had become familiar long ago.

No. She was wrong. She was wrong, she was wrong, she was wrong. She _had_ to be wrong. There was never a look, there was never anything. Never before and never again. Never.

_Bubble Boy_ ended and _Office Space_ came on and Dana turned up the volume on the television as she attempted to let the work troubles of Peter Gibbons and his co-workers drown out all the thoughts, memories, in her head.

In the next three hours all the girls returned and found attempts to get any kind of acknowledgement from Dana other than an initial hello, completely fruitless. They figured that either something bad had happened over her break or she was having a really off day.

Nicole knew something was out of place about her break, but she only had a snippet of information and if it was nothing and especially because she probably wasn't supposed to know, she claimed to the other girls that she didn't know what was going on. She had her suspicions, but she didn't know, so amazingly she kept her mouth shut.

The girls decided that if they tried to act like everything was normal, though Dana's dazed muteness clearly proved otherwise, maybe they'd get some answers.

"Let's establish post break relationship status by accounting for break contact," Nicole said with a happy clap as they all settled into seats around Dana who hadn't moved from the spot she sat down in when she got to school over four hours earlier. "I'll start," Nicole said eagerly, "Matt called me five times while he was on vacation and being charged like a lot to make the long distance calls. And he said he has something he wants to give me and we're going out tonight."

"So things are looking promising?" Lola checked.

"I don't know," Nicole replied with a shrug, "Sometimes he would say sort of weird stuff while we were talking. Like, every time he told me about someone or anything, he always told me what race each person was he was ever talking about. Maybe it's nothing though, but I'll find out tonight probably."

With Nicole seemingly settled Lola moved on and asked, "So Quinn, how many calls did you get from Jack?"

"None," Quinn replied, but quickly continued noticing the girls' worried looks, "I told him not to call, it would have been pointless. I have horrible cell phone service in Seattle, but good service here. Since I'm here most of the year it's never really a problem. So, we couldn't talk on the phone, but we e-mailed. He e-mailed me at least twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. I'm not seeing him tonight, he's not getting back until late, but we do have plans for tomorrow night. Things are good."

"Good," Lola commented, but quickly turned to the person she was most curious about, "So Zoey, was there ever a time that you weren't talking to Chase over break?"

"Yeah, there were lots of times," Zoey replied almost seeming like she didn't know what they were talking about.

"Nope," Nicole said shaking her head and smiling, "You're so not getting away that easily. Every time I called you your line was busy and I called everyone else and Chase's was always busy too and it was always Chase and never anyone else."

Zoey could no longer keep up her innocent, oblivious eyes. A blush rose on her cheeks as she tried to claim, "It wasn't that often."

Ignoring the denial, Lola moved on to what she thought of as more pressing matters, "So what'd you two always talk about?"

Zoey looked down and chipped at her white fingernail polish as she said with a shrug, "Nothing really." She glanced up because she could feel the stares of Lola, Nicole, and Quinn. She conceded with a sigh and said, "We talked about how he thinks the new Teenage Mutant Turtles look anorexic in the new movie trailer. And we talked about how he really didn't want to know that his grandpa switched from boxers to briefs. See, just pointless, random stuff; nothing really."

The girls couldn't contain themselves, Lola, Nicole, and Quinn busted out with laughter at the sheer absurdity of the conversation topics Zoey mentioned. Zoey joined them, but before they could calm down she tried to move the conversation away from her. She asked, still smiling from laughing with the other girls, "So Lola, how were things with Michael over break?"

"Ugh," Lola grunted in dissatisfaction as all the previous laughter completely disappeared from her features.

"That bad?" Zoey asked cautiously.

Lola was silent for a second, so Nicole jumped in already having been informed over the phone over break, "Michael had the opportunity to kiss Lola before we left and he didn't take it. She's been freaking out about it all break. And it didn't help that instead of actually calling, Michael usually just sent texts about nothing. Like, "Watching Rudy." I said that that was sweet because he was letting her know that he was enjoying her gift. But Lola's been worrying about whether he's actually really interested."

"Well I liked the slow, casual pace until I realized that maybe things are going that way because he doesn't really want anything to happen," Lola jumped in voicing just one of the thoughts that had occupied her mind over break. She was about to add that when her younger sister asked if she had a boyfriend, she didn't even know how to answer her. But she had spent all break worrying and wondering and she really didn't want to think about it anymore. So when she spoke she instead said, "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Can we just change the subject?"

Of course the girls were all more than happy to do as Lola wished, but the only one who was left, the only one who hadn't said anything, was Dana. They all turned to her, but she hadn't really been listening. Her mind was in a daze and she was completely somewhere else. She was at New Years Eve, minutes to midnight.

_He pulled away suddenly, abruptly. He sat up until he was on his knees beside her on his bed. He was panting, as was she, from their activities. He was staring down at her, his hair a mess and his shirt a little askew. She sat up so she was leaning on her elbows and waited for him to explain why he suddenly stopped. _

"Dana?" Zoey questioned, trying and failing to get her friend's attention.

"Dana?" Lola tried as she waved her hand in front of the completely dazed girl next to her.

"Do you want to try my stun gun on her?" Quinn offered, but all the girls immediately turned down the offer.

Lola stopped waving her hand and sat back in her seat, "I don't know what to do."

Nicole had been quiet, thinking, but then something occurred to her, "Maybe we should try dealing with her the way she would deal with one of us if we were acting like her."

"_It's almost midnight," he said still catching his breath, "I'll just go for a few minutes and come back later." With puffy lips and mused hair she was staring up at him, still confused. He said in further explanation, "The superstition. I should go."_

_She understood what he was talking about; it was, after all, her idea. But she really didn't care right now. _

The girls didn't know exactly what Nicole meant by "dealing with her like she would," but they watched Nicole as she got up and turned off the TV that Dana was seemingly staring at, though the thoughts in her mind made her oblivious to happenings on the television screen. The televisions suddenly going off did not awake Dana from the far away place in her mind, but Nicole didn't expect it to and it wasn't all she was planning on doing.

"_Screw it," she breathed as she leaned up and captured his lips in another passionate kiss. Midnight, the New Year, came and they were still together, and if the superstition was true, then maybe together for the year._

"You're going to tell us where you were over break and what happened and you're going to do it now! You told your parents that you were staying at my house for New Years, and I lied to them, I covered for you, but if you don't tell me where you really were right now then I'm calling them back and telling them that you weren't with me," Nicole yelled fiercely from just the other side of the coffee table, across which Dana was sitting on the couch, now completely pulled from her thoughts by Nicole's outburst.

"I was with Logan," Dana replied without even thinking, too stunned by typically sweet Nicole's sudden demand.

None of the girls were expecting her answer. They all thought she was in denial about actually being in a relationship with Logan, but part of that denial meant that neither one of them would do anything to encourage the thought that they were together. Apparently sneaking off together over break, that just wasn't denial.

"What happened?" Zoey asked, suddenly feeling like she didn't know Dana at all because she had been quiet and she had gone with Logan, seemingly given in to the idea that she wanted to be with him. And that girl, she was not the bold, outspoken, stubborn girl she had thought she knew.

"Nothing," Dana replied because it was what she needed to believe. She glanced down, away from her friends. She could feel their gazes; she knew they didn't believe her. Usually it didn't matter if they believed her; she knew she was telling them the truth, or at least what she believed to be the truth in her denial ridden mind, heart. But now she didn't know if her response was truth, she wanted it to be, but when everything was quiet, like now, she started to wonder so many things that made her answer absolutely false.

Dana suddenly felt like the walls were closing in and the air was being sucked from the room. She stood up hastily and stumbled around the coffee table as she quickly said, "I have to go."

"Was I too harsh?" Nicole asked worried that her tact hadn't been the correct one after all.

"No, I think she just needs some time," Lola responded and she hoped, but she wasn't sure either. Living with Dana for the first semester they had gotten to know each other pretty well, but she didn't seem like the girl she had come to know at all so far that day. She seemed lost and confused, which Lola understood, she had felt the same way lately and sometimes what was necessary was space. She hoped that by encouraging the other girls to give her space and time, the two things would help Dana far more than the combination had helped her.

* * *

As Dana dashed down the stairs she almost ran into John Ely, who was ascending the stairs to the fourth floor in search of a certain blonde. John continued on his way after the near collision and knocked on the door of his destination when he arrived. He heard her yell, "It's open," and a smile immediately appeared on his face. 

John opened the door and saw Morgan on her bed, the bottom of the bunk beds, texting someone and Tiffany across the room at her single with her suit case open, unpacking. He leaned against the doorframe casually and had his arms crossed across his rather chiseled chest. He was trying to sound mad, but the smile he wore completely betrayed him as he said, "You know, I almost got a ticket trying to catch up with you."

Tiffany had seen that it was him out of the corner of her eye, but she had just seen him at home two hours ago so promptly fully acknowledging him just wasn't possible, not unless she wanted him to know that she was glad to see him, which she really didn't since she was sure he didn't feel the same way. After he spoke she looked to him just long enough to retort, "It's not my fault you can't drive."

He laughed. He knew laughing wasn't what one was supposed to do when a girl insulted you, but lately, over break, the insulting somehow turned into good natured banter, which he really enjoyed.

John was about to say the real reason he was trying to catch up with her and had now come to see her, but Jenna suddenly interrupted him by coming back. He hadn't heard her coming down the hall so he was surprised when she suddenly squeezed through the door by him. There was enough room so that she didn't have to press her chest to his arm that much when she very slowly slid past, but apparently she was trying to come on to him. Which he became sure of when she pinched his butt, causing him to leap in shock, and said with a flirtatious giggle, "Hi Johnny." She continued walking to her top bunk and swung her ass a little extra as she climbed to her bed.

John stood in the doorway, his eyes not on the girl clearly trying to get him to look at her, but instead on Tiffany giving her a look that said, "Did you see how your friend just practically molested me?"

Tiffany couldn't contain her amusement about John's freaked out expression as a result of Jenna's come on, she burst out laughing. She had stopped unpacking and she was practically doubled over with laughter, her eyes a bit watery.

John did not see the same amount of hilarity in the situation as Tiffany, but he couldn't help joining her in laughing, it was like laughter with her was infectious. He also couldn't help but keep his eyes on her while he joined her in laughing because he liked seeing her laugh. It was rare and one of those moments where she was totally real, and he liked her when she was real.

Jenna had been confused by the mini-scene in front of her and she interrupted it saying and looking between the two, "Whoa, okay, what's going on here?'

"What?" Tiffany asked, calmed down from the laughter and her brow furrowed at the question, but a smile still on her face.

"You two, you're all chummy with the laughing," Jenna explained.

John glanced at Tiffany and winked at her with his right eye, which Jenna and Morgan couldn't see on their side of the room when he turned his head. He turned back to Jenna and responded, "What are you talking about? You were the one laughing."

Tiffany caught on to what he was doing. She had mentioned some stories to him and in a few of them Jenna didn't come off as bright, at all really. He had claimed that she couldn't possibly be that dense and made it that far in school, but Tiffany had never elaborated in any of her stories. Tiffany played along and added, "Yeah, we were talking and then you suddenly started laughing really hard."

"No I didn't," Jenna said, though she wasn't entirely sure she was right anymore so she had hints of doubt in her voice.

"Yes you did," Tiffany claimed with certainty as John nodded his head in agreement.

Below Jenna on the bottom bunk Morgan was biting her lip in an attempt not to laugh because she knew what was surely coming next.

"Oh," Jenna conceded. "But why?" she wondered about the action she hadn't actually committed.

"We just asked _you _that," John replied, stunned that Jenna had actually just been convinced of doing something minutes ago that she hadn't actually done. She was that dense and it truly was a miracle that she had made it to the tenth grade.

"Oh," Jenna responded as her brow furrowed in complete confusion and she laid back on her bed actually trying to figure out why she had been laughing.

John grabbed the bag he had set outside the door, out of Tiffany's sight, and walked towards Tiffany with an easy stride having remembered his original purpose. He held out the bag as he approached Tiffany who was still digging stuff out of her very large suitcase, "You forgot my mom's cookies."

He was standing, holding the bag out in the middle of the foot that was between them. She turned to him and looked up at him as she reached for the bag. Her fingers brushed his as she took the handles of the large paper grocery bag and she attempted, pretty successfully, not to blush. Quickly ignoring the wonderful warm tingling she always seemed to get from the lightest of touches with him, she commented, "Your mom made way too many. She's going to make me fat." She had turned away from him to set the rather heavy bag on the bed as she spoke, knowing that looking too long would probably just bring trouble, the kind of trouble that she wasn't supposed to have with someone who was now technically family.

John gasped over dramatically and said sarcastically, "God forbid." He didn't understand why she was always so conscious of what she ate, he had seen her in a bikini and she looked great. Those were thoughts he shouldn't be having. Really, thinking of her in a bikini should gross him out the same way it did to think of his sister Haley in a bikini. Unfortunately for him though, it didn't and Tiffany liked to swim, often.

"You have to take half," she said turning back to him and ignoring his comment.

John was grateful she had disrupted him from his thought straying places that they couldn't. But he also didn't trust himself to not stray those places again. So he said as he walked backwards towards the door, "I already did." He wasn't lying either, he knew his mom had sent far too many cookies for Tiffany and she wouldn't be able to eat them all and wouldn't mind sharing so he did take half because he could eat like a horse and to him half was practically nothing. "See ya Tiff. Ladies," he said with another one of his charming smiles glancing to Tiffany, then Jenna and Morgan on their side of the room, and back to Tiffany as he finally exited and shut their door behind him.

Tiffany couldn't help smiling as she finished unpacking. She knew she shouldn't let it affect her because nothing could happen, but things were good between them. Jenna was actually right, they had gotten sort of…chummy over break and…no, she couldn't do this to herself. John was her step brother now and there were plenty of other guys and she really needed to find one to distract her because she was still smiling and she really couldn't be. Maybe she could find a distraction later though, because right now all she really wanted to do was pretend to read a magazine and actually stare at a string of four little photos of her, John, Haley, and Trevor from a photo booth in the mall. Oy, she was really in trouble.

* * *

While the girls huddled with Lola at her window and passed a pair of binoculars between them, they were forced to wonder where Dana actually was. All three boys were in their room and Logan didn't seem to be leaving to meet her anywhere and that just didn't make sense to them. For a while now whenever Dana would disappear it was always to Logan, but this time it wasn't and the girls were only more convinced that something was wrong. 

Dana had crawled through the still un-lockable window to the bottom of the basement. There were lights, but she didn't bother turning them on. It was freezing, but she didn't notice. She just sat in the middle of the couch and finally let herself get lost in everything from the previous three days.

_Three days earlier, December 30, 2006…_

Dana found herself arriving at Ontario, California's international airport just after two o'clock Pacific Standard Time. She always found flying from Ohio back to California a bit odd because the time difference was also about the same length as the flight. In Ohio, her flight was at 1:45, but here she was arriving just after two. Though two hours had passed since she left her home state, setting her phone's time to the current time in her current time zone as she waited to be allowed off of the plane, it was almost like no time had passed.

After the plane finally stopped and the door opened allowing people to slowly file out, Dana followed the signs posted at the medium sized airport and headed for baggage claim. She didn't know where he'd be waiting. She wasn't even sure why she was arriving at Ontario airport, hadn't he said Big Bear? But they hadn't spoken; he just sent her a ticket. But she knew that he wouldn't be waiting for her at the gate, that was simply impossible with the heightened security at airports these days.

As she approached baggage claim she didn't look around for him, she didn't want to seem like she was searching. She walked directly to the carousel for her flight and waited ten minutes before her bag finally came up. She turned around to head to the area with the cars and taxis waiting for people because she figured he was sending someone to pick her up or he was picking her up, but either way they would be traveling by car so she headed towards the bay of waiting cars. But as she approached one hundred yards to the automatic doors that were her destination, the crowd suddenly parted before her and she saw a curly dusty brown haired boy standing, waiting by said door with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.

Though he was looking at her his expression was fairly vacant, because he just couldn't look interested. He watched her as she didn't hesitate to walk directly to him.

She wouldn't let herself take a single step faster than usual. And she wouldn't let herself smile. She didn't know about the many times he had made her smile, all she knew was that if she was thinking about it she never let herself smile, not for him.

She knew what she was going to do when she got to him, she had known ever since she took her seat on the plane. Coming upon five yards between then and closing she suddenly tripled her pace, completely surprising him when her hand dropped from the handle of her suitcase and she was right in front of him. In single second she closed all the space between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and captured his lips for the first time in twenty long days.

He didn't hesitate to return the hungry kiss, just as he didn't hesitate to slip his hands underneath her sweater to hold her close to him by her waist. She had noticed this new habit of his; he always immediately went for bare skin as if touching clothing would burn his hands. She noticed it, but she didn't say anything.

She gently bit his bottom lip, eliciting a small groan from him, just before she pulled away. She let out the smallest of sighs, completely content and feeling more normal than she had for what felt like a long while. She looked up at him, a smirk playing on her lips as she informed, "I really liked first class."

"Yeah, obviously," he replied, not able to keep the smile from his face as he stared down at the girl still in his arms. "So, uh, how do you feel about town cars?" he asked with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.

"Town car?" she said stepping back, away from him, "I was expecting a limo." She was just joking, her tone not at all serious.

But she wasn't expecting when he got a little frustrated as he responded, "Yeah but they were all out. The town car was the nicest thing they had left. It's…okay though."

"I'm sure it's tons better than the '95 Volvo station wagon I was driven to the airport in," Dana added as she grabbed the handle of her previously discarded suitcase and walked through the automatic doors to the sea of waiting cars.

Logan was a little confused by her comment, trailing behind her and thinking. Did it mean that the town car impressed her and she may be up for some…fun? Well, the only way to find out was to ask, so Logan asked, "Does that mean you're willing to fool around in the back seat? Cause Big Bear is like an hour and fifteen minutes away from here, a nice long ride to do stuff during."

Only a few steps out the door, Dana stopped, cocked her head to look at Logan who just came up next to her, and replied, "Well, I don't know Logan. I mean, you didn't even offer to help me with my bag."

"Huh?" Logan asked, completely lost.

Dana rolled her eyes, it had become an automatic response, and explained, "If you wanted me to do something nice for you in the car then maybe you should have done something nice for me before we get there."

Okay, things were starting to make a bit more sense even if it was really weird because they never used the word _nice_. Wanting to find out what "nice" was inside the car, Logan didn't argue, but forced himself to ask despite his set jaw, "Do you want me to carry your bag?"

Dana shrugged, "Why should you carry my bag when I'm stronger than you?"

Logan never wanted to hit a girl more in his life. She was making this difficult on purpose. She was trying to aggravate him and it was working. He had to mutter to himself as a reminder, "Never hit a girl. Never hit a girl. Never hit a girl."

Dana heard him, but she pretended she didn't and antagonized further, "So are we going to spend the rest of break out here or are you going to finally reveal where this supposed town car is?"

"Never hit a girl. Never hit a girl. Never hit a girl," he said growing louder as a result of increased frustration with her. He jerked his hand and pointed at a car and resisted the urge to throw the hand her direction instead. She followed where he was pointing and wheeled her case to the man standing at the trunk of the car. Logan lingered behind for a second, calming down and telling himself that she was a lot more pleasant when she wasn't talking.

When Logan arrived at the trunk of the car with the driver it came with and Dana, they were talking. Dana was smiling at him and shaking his hand and he, Henry as he had told Logan earlier, was doing the same. It seemed that Logan had simply missed introductions between the two and as Henry took his hand back and noticed that Logan was there again he asked politely, "Shall we be heading back to Big Bear now Mr. Reese?"

"Yes," Logan replied promptly, hoping that getting the hell out of there would somehow change everything, erase everything.

"Any more stops before the resort?" Henry asked dutifully as he opened the back door on the passenger side and gestured for Dana to get in.

"No," Logan answered as he quickly got in on the other side before Henry could open his door for him. He knew it was his job, but he always felt weird about having guys open doors for him.

Logan closed his door as Henry closed Dana's and they were alone as Henry walked around the car to the front driver side. The black leather bench seat had enough room for three people. Dana was sticking to her side, but Logan was hoping that the space between them was not going to be permanent. Logan glanced at Dana, she wasn't looking at him, but she could see him do it out of her peripheral vision.

"No," she said before he could even come on to her.

"Seriously?" Logan questioned, not understanding why she was being so difficult when they both knew why he asked her and why she came, they had an arrangement. "But the windows are tinted and this car is nice…"Logan added, saying anything he could come up with but quickly running out of potential reasons.

He was right. The windows were very tinted; passengers of other cars passing by wouldn't be able to see in. The car was nice. She had never been in a Lincoln Town Car, but it was spacious and comfortable and it made sense that it would be rented as a luxury vehicle. But, in an even tone Dana responded, "That's not what this is about."

"Okay," Logan said slowly, he really didn't want to piss her off because then he definitely wouldn't be getting anything good. He said sounding as understanding as he possibly could, "What is it about then?"

_Crap. What was this about?_ Dana truly had no idea why she was doing this. It was just instinct and she went with it. She just suddenly felt really weird about being there. She lied to her parents and got on a plane flying across many states to spend three days with a guy she didn't like. There was something wrong with that, right? Saying the first thing that came to mind Dana said, "There's no partition Logan. I'm sure Henry doesn't want to see you mauling me in the backseat."

Just as Dana was speaking Henry had gotten into the driver seat, but he was trying to remain oblivious to the conversation as he started the car because he was a professional.

Logan didn't really understand her point since, "But he's driving, which means his eyes would be on the road not the backseat."

"And every time he glances in his rearview mirror he gets to see two teenagers making out? I don't think so," Dana retorted settling back into her seat as she roughly fastened her seatbelt and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ugh," Logan groaned as he copied her and put on his seat belt. Looking straight ahead and not at her he said not at all able to hide the frustration in his tone, "I knew this would happen. I shouldn't have invited you."

"I knew I shouldn't have said yes," she said keeping her tone even, unemotional, as she stared straight ahead as well.

She wanted to ask why he asked her to come in the first place, because his original explanation didn't make that much sense. He wanted to ask why she really agreed to come, because her original reason didn't seem very credible. But both stayed silent, knowing how dangerous questions like that were.

Logan started listening to his iPod as he pretended to stare out the window at the repetition of trees, mountain, snow, and cars that went by. Dana needed to do something that he wasn't doing, so she started talking to Henry. He was a nice enough man. He was in his late fifties, kind of portly, and his grayish brown hair was disappearing from the crown of his head.

Dana talked to Henry for the first forty minutes of the drive, but they only talked about him. She learned he had a wife named Betty, three daughters, the youngest of whom would be graduating from college soon. He grew up in a large family and he was still close to all of them. He used to be an accountant, but when they didn't really need that larger pay check, he took this job as a driver because he liked meeting new people and not being stuck in an office with the same four walls all day.

Suddenly there was a lull in the conversation. Dana had been trying to make sure that didn't happen because then she may not be in control of the direction of the conversation any longer. But the radio station Henry had quietly put on went out of range as they headed further up the mountain. He scanned for more stations and as he did so they heard a few seconds of a version of "Shout" and Dana got lost for a second. That second was long enough for Henry to take the opportunity and ask her something, which was exactly what he did, "So why are you giving the boy such a hard time?"

"What?" Dana asked incredulously.

"Well when Betty treats me like you're treating him it means I did something wrong. So, what'd he do?" Henry asked, meeting Dana's eyes in the rearview mirror.

Dana glanced at Logan, he had fallen asleep with his iPod still playing. "Nothing," she admitted, but added, "He's just an ass in general."

Instead of continuing to let the stereo scan for stations Henry turned it off. If she wasn't mad at him, Henry could only come up with one possible explanation for the scene in his backseat, "So, this is all just part of the plan then?"

"Plan?" Dana questioned, truly having no idea what the older man was talking about.

Henry nodded and responded, "To keep him interested. I have daughters and sisters, I've seen them do it. You think the guy isn't going to stay interested, that he has a short attention span or something, so you play it hot and cold. Can't give him too much of what he wants because then he might lose interest, but you can't always hold out on him either. So you try to balance and hope that it works." Before Dana could say that that wasn't at all right because not only did she not want Logan's attention because she didn't like him, but also that no girl could hold his attention ever; Henry continued, "You don't have anything to worry about though. Guys who are as nervous as he was on the drive to the airport don't have wandering eyes. The boy was really starting to annoy me on the way to get you, with his leg giggling up and down so much, jumpy with tension, anxiety, anticipation, whatever you want to call it. He wasn't as annoying as the people that sit back there and pick their noses though, and then they wipe it on the seat. That really makes me want to stop the car and throw them out. Don't people have any courtesy anymore? Or shame? Or…hygiene?"

Henry continued to rant about his least favorite type of passengers, but Dana had long since stopped listening. Henry was wrong, he had to be. Logan didn't ever get nervous, especially over her, especially since they were nothing. She glanced at him. He was sleeping with his mouth open and his nose slightly squished against the glass of his window. It actually made him look less attractive. Maybe he just had to pee? Bouncy leg and not really many convenient stops on his way down the mountain to the airport made it pretty likely that he was probably just in desperate need of a restroom. He certainly didn't look nervous in the airport. Plus it was her and him so he couldn't have been nervous because he couldn't have been nervous for nothing, and they were nothing.

Dana pretended to listen to Henry's continued tales of different passengers he had had, but she really wasn't listening at all. The only thing she was really listening to was the voice in her head saying over and over again that Henry was wrong. Logan wasn't nervous. And her heart absolutely didn't skip a beat when Henry said that Logan was nervous. Because all of those things were impossible so the voice in her head claiming so was right, and Henry, he was only speaking of things he thought he saw, but were complete and utter lies.

With the repetition of reassurances of Henry's mistakenness, Dana had herself convinced he was one hundred percent wrong by the time they arrived in the village of Big Bear and pulled into the parking lot of the resort thirty minutes later. Dana was so wrapped up in denial that she hadn't noticed when the scenery outside changed from green pine trees to white snow covered pine trees. Northwoods Resort and Conference Center she read from the sign on the front of the large hotel. There were only four stories to the structure, but it was long and wide, sort of wrapping around in a squared U shape, wrapping around what exactly she figured she's find out later.

The car came to a stop and Henry announced that they were there, which seemed to awake Logan finally. Her door was promptly opened for her by Henry and she could hear Logan getting out as well, but she didn't feel like facing him quite yet. She stepped out on to the slushy ground and was hit by the freezing air with a rush. _Jesus Christ it was cold! _She knew snow meant that it would be cold, but it was still a shock to her body

since she was only wearing jeans, a somewhat thin red v-neck sweater, and UGG boots. _Why had she packed her coat?_ She immediately regretted that poor decision as she was suddenly hit by a cool gust of wind.

Henry was about to hand her suit case off to the bell man when Logan interceded, "I'll get that. I already have the room."

She had watched him take the case and give Henry a generous tip and finally he looked up to her. But then he looked away again and simply entered the hotel. Assuming that she was supposed to follow, Dana entered the resort's lobby. It was nice, well, as nice as something decorated in hunting décor could be. There was a large front desk that was of course, wood that ran along the wall to her left. To her right seemed to be the entrance to a restaurant and on the back wall was a large rock fireplace that went from the floor to the ceiling. Around the fire place were many comfortable looking loveseats and chairs.

Dana followed Logan through the wide path through the lobby and turned left right after the front desk ended into a dead end hall that held two elevators. He pressed the up button and she waited beside him silently. She wasn't going to be the first to say anything, mainly because she didn't know what to say. She wasn't sorry, but she didn't feel good about how the day had been going so far either.

Logan had actually forgotten about the fighting. He had just woken up and it hadn't registered with him until after he said he'd take her bag. He hadn't actually been thinking about what she had suggested earlier, it was just that he already had her room and she only had the one rather large bag so they didn't need a bell man. Mentioning her bag had caused him to recall the arguing unfortunately, but he decided maybe it was best if he didn't remember. He couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer so he said despite the fact that it was obvious, "I already checked in, I was here earlier."

Well if he was ignoring earlier then she was going to too, after all, she had no idea what to do about any of it. It was normal for her to insinuate that he wasn't very smart so she decided to go with that natural instinct, "Why would you drive all the way up here, check in, and then drive all the way back down the mountain to pick me up, and drive all the way back up again? Why not just pick me up on you first trip up the mountain?"

"Because," Logan drawled out. He didn't actually know why he had done things the way he had. He knew that he was going to be picked up by the driver at nine that morning and Dana's flight wasn't arriving at the airport until after two and driving there he wouldn't be near the airport around the time she was going to be. So he just went all the way there, checked in, hung out for about an hour and left again. Although, now that she had brought it up it would have been smarter to stay at home and leave with the driver later so that he could pick her up on the way there. Of course he wasn't about to admit that she was right so he shrugged and said, "That's just how I roll."

He was trying to sound cool, but it just came off as jokingly stupid and Dana couldn't help but laugh. Though laughing wasn't what he was going for, Logan was relieved that she didn't know he thought she was right.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. After a middle aged couple got off, Logan and Dana got on and as he hit the button labeled three they were joined on the elevator by an elderly couple and a man wearing a red blazer clearly distinguishing him as hotel staff.

After waiting an entire minute before the old elevator doors closed and another minute and a half before the elevator slowly started moving. Dana, not feeling very patient, quietly demanded of Logan, "If we're only going to the third floor why are we taking the elevator in the first place."

"I don't do stairs on vacation," Logan replied just as quietly and seriously. They were standing in the back left corner of the elevator and had just been slightly leaning toward each other, but keeping their gazes straight ahead at the elevator doors, as they talked, but at Logan's response Dana turned her head to him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Seriously? We could have been up and down the stairs a dozen times by now, but we're in the slowest elevator ever because 'you don't do stairs on vacation,'" she questioned incredulously using air quotes on his statement.

There was another ding and the doors slowly opened to the second floor as the elderly couple exited. The couple disappeared turning left down the hall and it was another minute before the doors closed again. During which, Logan retorted, "That's right and since I'm paying for everything we're doing things however I want."

Dana turned back to the closed doors and shrugged as she said, "Okay."

Okay? Dana was easily agreeing, that was beyond unusual and Logan knew that she must have thought of something he didn't and any second now she was going to point it out to him.

And she did as soon as the elevator started moving again, "If you want to spend a lot of time in elevators with strangers instead of alone in a room…with me, then that's up to you."

Five minutes and she had been right twice. Damn her. Although this time she happened to make a point that was very, very good. And suddenly he was very eager for the elevator to stop and open, which it was actually doing. Of course the elevator doors were opening at the slowest possible speed again, but Logan hurriedly slid through the still opening doors. Dana smirked as she followed at a normal pace, he was so predictable.

Apparently her room was the one directly across from the elevator because Logan was hastily sticking in a key card and looking very impatient as he waited for the light to turn green, his hand poised over the door handle. The light turned green and simultaneously made a small beep and Logan rushed into the room, completely forgetting Dana's suitcase that he had been carrying.

Dana picked up her case and stepped in the room before the door shut. As the door shut behind her Dana noticed that there was a bathroom to her right and a small open closet. Just on the other side of the wall from the closet and the bathroom was a king sized bed, the head of which was against the wall, and a window facing the parking lot/mountain view on the opposite wall. There was a dresser on the wall to her left, a small nightstand on each side of the bed, and a table with two chairs in the right corner of the room towards the far wall with the window. The hunting lodge décor was semi-continued in the room, though there was a bit more of a floral feel to this particular room. The bed linens were sage green with small flower like plants on them and there was a dried arrangement of flowers hanging on the wall above the headboard of the bed. Contrasting the floral theme was a throw folded at the end of the bed which had fish sewn on to it. But overall the room was very nice and rather spacious.

Dana's eyes finally stopped scanning the room, which she had entered and set her suitcase in the middle while she did so. She turned back to Logan who was still at his original spot by the door/closet area. Logan seemed fidgety and anxious. Dana knew why, but if he wanted her then he was going to have to make a move, after all she was the one to do it last time and she knew it was only a matter of minutes or seconds.

Though Dana's eyes had just come back to rest on Logan, his eyes were darting everywhere, looking anywhere but her. He finally let his eyes go back to her as he said briefly pointing to his left, "My room's just next door."

"Super," Dana replied sarcastically figuring at least one of them should be acting normally because at this moment it definitely wasn't Logan. Did he lose his mojo like Austin Powers? Well, one thing was for sure, she definitely wasn't going to make the first move. But twenty seconds later she decided that she could at least make it easier for him so she closed the seven feet between them to be less than half a foot.

Logan had watched her as she walked to him and stopped so close. He wanted to make a move since before they even got on the elevator, but he didn't really want to hear "no" again so he was waiting for a sign. Though getting closer to him would normally be a good sign, he wasn't sure that it was this time. Maybe she was just stopping in front of him and going to tell him to get out. But she didn't say anything and Logan didn't have the patience to wait anymore so he asked bluntly, "Are you going to let me kiss you this time?"

It was a valid question, but she thought that they were ignoring earlier. Maybe her "no" was something that couldn't be ignored or forgotten though. She had never really turned him down before, she never had any reason to and she wasn't sure she had had a reason to earlier, but she just found herself doing it. Suddenly she was doing things and saying things and she wasn't even sure if she meant it, but that kind of behavior wasn't new for her around Logan. Where he was concerned she always seemed to find herself doing things and she didn't understand why. But asking why was a dangerous question with few answers and none that she liked.

"Why don't you try and find out?" she challenged. And again, she didn't know why she was doing the things she was. Like why her heart was racing, or why there was a lump that seemed to be rising in her throat, or why when he looked at her as he was now with so much lust she wasn't sure if she was breathing.

His lips were on hers and his arms were around her waist and she was crushed against him in a second. She would tell herself later that she couldn't have stopped him if she wanted to. His arms had crossed across her back so that fingers were wrapping around to the front of her waist and once again they were on bare skin under her sweater. He was holding her so tight, but then she was also doing the same with her arms wrapped around his neck.

He walked her backwards, his target being the bed, but he somehow maneuvered them wrong and they ended up feeling hotel hangers brush the top of their heads as they stumbled into what was supposed to be a closet, but was really just a rail on a wall with a shelf above it. Dana felt her back and her head hit the wall forcefully and she knew it'd probably be sore later, but she didn't care. It had been twenty days, twenty _long_ days, they were desperate and desperate was reflected in their actions.

His arms unwrapped from around her right after she fell into the wall, but he still held her by the bare skin of her waist. But he always wanted more and his thumbs slipped into the front of the waistband of her jeans and rested there, rubbing soft circles in the newly touched skin, because subconsciously he knew that going further would end everything.

Maybe this time it wouldn't though, or at least that was what Dana was unsure about. She had suddenly found her left leg wrapped around his right, thigh to thigh, calf wrapped around calf, and hanging on tight. _Why did it always feel like it wasn't enough? Why did it always feel…right, like this, with him?_ His assault on her mouth had continued, but she kissed him harder now, pulled at his hair a little instead of just having her fingers threaded through it, because she hoped that it would make her stop thinking. She didn't want the questions in her head because what if the answers to the questions made this stop? She didn't want to risk having to give this up…with him.

Logan took her more demanding kiss as a sign to try and move them again, which he managed to do successfully this time. He was mostly successfully at least, after bumping into the wall a couple of times and almost knocking over one of the nightstands. They stayed making up for lost time and ignoring reality on the bed for a while to come.

* * *

By the time Logan left Dana's room it was dark outside. Though being winter and getting dark out earlier and them not getting to the hotel until nearly four, they hadn't spent _that_ much time together. But it being dark out made possible activities afterwards rather limited. Any type of snow sport activity was definitely out of the question. Dana had wandered around the hotel a bit. She found the bar, but there wasn't anything for her to do in there. There was a spa, but it was closed. And she found out that the thing the U shaped hotel wrapped around was a pool, which looked really pretty iced over like it was. Dana ventured into town, which surrounded the hotel, but the only things open were restaurants and if she ate at one of them she'd have to pay and she didn't come on this vacation to pay for herself. One of the main appeals of the vacation, she told herself, was that Logan was paying for everything. 

To ensure that he really did pay for everything, she decided to head back to her room and order room service, which would be charged to Logan of course. She relaxed and watched TV, but after she was done eating there didn't seem to be anything good on TV. She was about to order _Casino Royal_, courtesy of Logan's wallet, when her phone beeped alerting her of a new text message.

It was from Logan and simply demanded: _Come over_.

Well, she wasn't exactly doing anything else so Dana got up and headed for his room without hesitation despite the fact that she had changed into black pajama pants with tiny white skull and crossbones on them and a heavy bulky dark gray Hurley sweatshirt. Dana grabbed her key, put it in her pocket, and walked out her door. She turned to her right because she had remembered Logan pointing that way earlier, but now that she was knocking on the door and it wasn't promptly being opened she started to wonder if he had told her the wrong direction just to screw with her because that would be so like him. She knocked again, louder this time, and finally heard heavy footsteps jogging to the door.

Logan answered the door looking a little flushed. He was in the same thing he had been earlier, except despite the increasingly cooling weather he took his sweatshirt off.

"You summoned," Dana greeted dryly, clearly trying to display her disinterest.

"In," Logan ordered with a gesture as he stepped aside to let Dana in.

Dana did as she was told and entered the room walking past his closet/bathroom area all the way to the beds, of which there were two. Wait, two? "Why do you have two beds?" Dana questioned eyeing the two queen sized beds curiously.

"I don't know. I just went in the room they told me was mine and found two beds," Logan said sounding awfully close, but then Dana already knew he was close, she could feel him.

She turned around and wasn't surprised to find that she was right; he was just a breath away. She knew why he called and why he was that close, what he wanted, but she had remembered something so she took a step back and said before he could do anything, "I forgot to tell you about the rule I have for this little trip."

"Another rule," Logan whined looking like he was ready to stomp his foot and throw a tantrum like an upset two year old. Dana's hands naturally went to her hips, clearly signaling to him that if he didn't agree he would suffer grave consequences. So, Logan crossed his arms across his chest as if to say he was waiting to hear whatever it may be.

"Tomorrow, New Years Eve at midnight when it becomes New Years Day we are absolutely not together," Dana declared firmly.

It was an easy enough rule to follow, but Logan couldn't help but wonder, "Why?"

Dana bit her lip for a second in hesitation, but gave in and explained, "Well, I don't really believe in superstitions, but there is that superstition that whoever you're with at midnight when the New Year begins is who you're going to be with for the year." He seemed to understand where she was headed with it, but Dana decided to help Logan along and ask, "You don't want to spend the year with me right?" And the voice in her head was screaming very loudly that the answer she wanted was "no." No because she didn't want to be wanted by a guy she didn't want, or at least that was the reason she was admitting to herself. But the other reason was because anything other than "no" violated the agreement that allowed her to be with him and anything other than "no" would end them.

"No," he replied, understanding every reason why it was the only answer he could give and telling himself that it was the one he felt. Feeling that "no" was not enough to assure her, to assure himself, that their agreement could continue so he added with a lit to his voice, "I hate you."

"I hate you too," she responded, unable to keep the smile from her face because he gave the answer she needed to hear. She ignored the existence of the smile though because acknowledging it would mean having to erase it. She checked, "So you're okay with the rule then?"

"Fine," he said before effectively ending all conversation by seizing her lips.

Dana didn't mind the conversation ending, he had agreed so further talking wasn't necessary anyway. She quickly felt her back hitting one of the beds, but as soon as it did there was only one thought going through her mind: she was so hot! She had noticed that the room seemed a little warm when she had entered, but she was burning up. That couldn't be the effect of Logan, could it? No, of course not, she felt like she was about to pass out from heat stroke and there was no way he could do that to her. There was a fireplace in his room though right? She thought she had seen one next to the TV and across from the bed that was nearer to the window, but now she wasn't sure. She didn't like to open her eyes when she was kissing someone though so she didn't open them to check. Wait…could she hear the heater on?

Dana tried to concentrate on making out with Logan and notice the fact that his hands were unusually above clothing for the moment at least, but she couldn't do it, she was _so_ hot. She put her hands on his chest and forced him off of her. "I'm so hot," she said as she began taking off her sweatshirt to reveal a thin camisole.

"And you say _I'm_ the cocky one," Logan commented with a smirk.

"No seriously Logan," she said tossing her sweatshirt aside, "it's really hot in here I'm burning up."

"Take off more clothes," Logan tried to suggest innocently, but Dana immediately caught on.

She saw the fire burning in the fire place and got up and checked the thermostat. "Logan you have a fire going and the heater on full blast. It says its ninety-seven degrees in here!" Dana said as she immediately switched the heater off. Dana crossed the room and opened both windows, letting the freezing air in. She questioned, "Did you seriously think you could make it hot enough to get me to take off all my clothes without me realizing what was going on?"

Logan shrugged and replied, "It was worth a try."

"And the consequence of that try is that I'm leaving," Dana said, but didn't immediately move from her spot cooling off by the window.

"Fine," Logan said, acting like he didn't care because of course he didn't. He flopped back onto his bed, the one furthest from the window and the one that he had been with Dana on, and hit the menu for movies on the TV remote.

As Dana crossed to the door she noticed the television screen because the same title she had highlighted and was about to order was now highlighted on his screen. She paused in front of the TV and at the end of the left sided of the bed where he was and asked, "You're going to order _Casino Royal_?"

"Dur," Logan not so eloquently replied as hit the enter button on the remote which caused "Buy" to be selected on screen.

"That's what I was going to do too," Dana said with a small groan as she sat down on the right side of the other bed, the one that was only separated from the bed Logan was on the left side of by a nightstand.

Logan looked at her strangely, not at all understanding what she meant, intended, or was doing by sitting down. He asked slowly, "What are you doing?"

Dana rolled her eyes, having to explain everything to him was really annoying, and replied, "There's no point to both of us ordering it."

She was staying? But they didn't do things together and there was no reason they should start now, not that Logan could see. He sat up and shook his head as he said, "No, nuh uh. You're not staying."

"If the room's a normal temperature by the end of the movie I'll resume our previous activities with you," Dana quickly and easily offered. He couldn't get away with trying some stupid hormone inspired stunt without being punished, but she'd be lying if she said that it wasn't also punishment for her to end things so soon after they began. Of course Dana was very used to lying to everyone, including herself, but this whole movie thing gave her an excuse to offer a continuation to the three minutes of making out of earlier and she knew she wouldn't be turned down.

She wasn't turned down. Logan promptly responded, "Deal." He fell back onto the bed and pressed play on the remote.

Before the movie could start and so that the plans for later wouldn't get messed up, Dana pointed out, "You might want to put out the fire if you actually want the room to return to a normal temperature."

"Right," Logan said as he paused the opening credits of the movie and got up and took care of the fire.

Dana settled in on top of the extra bed since the room was still like a sauna despite the opened windows.

About an hour into the movie Logan happened to glance at the other bed and found Dana not only asleep, but buried beneath the covers. It had gotten rather cold in the room with the opened windows and no heat on or fire anymore. Logan had even put his sweatshirt back on absentmindedly, but seeing Dana burrowed into the sheets, blankets, and a comforter prompted him to get up and shut the windows finally. He set the heater to go on at a reasonable temperature and settled back into his bed to watch the rest of the movie. But he fully intended to wake Dana as soon as the movie ended and make her go through with their deal. He didn't really care that she hadn't watched the movie; he didn't see why her falling asleep should affect the more fun part of the agreement.

And Logan would have woken Dana up, or at least that was what he told himself when he thought about it for days to come, but actually he fell asleep twenty minutes before the end of the movie and by the time he woke up the sun was brightly shining in his room.

* * *

The red numbers on the digital clock on the nightstand read 9:04 a.m. when Logan first opened his eyes. The sunlight poring into his room was slightly blinding him, but his eyes soon adjusted and landed on a form in the other bed across from him. It seemed that Dana was still sleeping soundly, but Logan wanted to get to the mountain and get in some snow boarding or skiing, hadn't really decided yet, but that meant he needed to get up and get ready. This was his room so he didn't see why he should have to be quiet about getting ready, she was the intruder. He slid out of bed into the space between the beds and peered over at her. Maybe he should just wake her. He could kiss her and maybe continue the activities they were supposed to have the previous night. But kissing her awake seemed like something that would be done to someone he liked so he couldn't do that with her, it was far too…nice. He could put her hand in warm water, but if that happened to work correctly he didn't really want his room to smell like urine. But a-ha… 

Logan had a stroke of what he thought was genius and quickly raced to the bathroom and filled up the ice bucket with cold water. He rushed back to her bedside and was relieved to find out that his actions hadn't woken her up. He poised the bucked over her head, but hesitated for a second and just stared at her sleeping form, laying on her side facing him, bits of her short ash hair strewn in her face. But he caught himself in his unusual behavior and immediately dumped the bucket knowing that her reaction would allow him to ignore the existence of his pause.

Dana was awoken to freezing water crashing down on her face and sprang up in the bed, spitting some of the water out that had somehow gotten in her mouth. Her now soaked hair was plastered to her face and wiping it out of her face got her hand drenched. She looked up at Logan who was laughing at the side of her bed and growled, "You asshole!"

"That…was…hilarious," Logan said in between laughs, practically doubled over.

Dana jerked the ice bucket out of Logan's hands and launched it at his head, from her close distance, before he had time to figure out what was going on. As he groaned ow and clutched his now sore head, Dana got up pushed around him, though it wasn't really necessary, and headed out the door as she yelled, "I will get you back for that!"

"I'd like to see you try!" he quickly retorted though she had just stepped outside the still open door.

"Oh you will," she promised having heard him just as she turned left down the hall and stuck her head back in before the door closed.

The door shut behind her not giving Logan the opportunity to retort, though he didn't know what he would possibly say anyway. That irked him a bit; he hated not getting the last word, especially with her. But he reminded himself that he had had the last laugh as he thought of the look of pure shock on her face as the ice cold water hit her. Yep, that was a much better choice than kissing her to wake her up.

* * *

Twenty five minutes later Dana was showered and ready to head out her door, but she stopped herself remembering that she needed to call her parents in an attempt to keep them from getting suspicious, and because she had agreed to a daily call as part of the conditions of letting her go. Though they didn't actually know where she had gone. They thought she was in Kansas because her former roommate Nicole had invited all the girls over to spend New Years with her and her family. After assuring her parents that Nicole's family was indeed going to be there and that the Bristow's were hard working God fearing people and pointing out that to turn down such a generous invitation would be rude, Dana's parents allowed to let her go. Dana's parents were strict and she didn't really get along with them, but over the phone she endured her mother's many and specific questions about everything concerning exactly where she was and everyone she was supposedly with in an attempt to get along with her mother for the moment so that her lying may not be caught. 

After twenty minutes on the phone with her mom, Dana was finally able to head out her door and down to breakfast. Logan had at last managed to get his hair to his satisfaction and stepped outside his door just as Dana pressed the down button at the elevators.

Logan joined Dana in front of the elevators, waiting, and asked, "Plotting your revenge still?"

Dana glanced to her right, at him, and replied, "Oh I can't tell you that, I'd lose my element of surprise."

The elevator dinged signaling its arrival. The doors slowly creaked open and Dana stepped inside the empty space first with Logan following close behind. An awkward silence settled between them. They never really talked and they were both convinced that they didn't want to talk to the other so coming up with conversation was difficult to say the least.

The elevator jerked as it started descending to the lobby as Dana had pressed the button for and Logan remembered something to say, "Um, I think I forgot to tell you that this place has regular shuttles to the mountain about every twenty minutes in case you were planning on going there."

"Yes you did forget to tell me that, but I read about it in the information book in the room," Dana said sounding like she had read the information because she expected him to leave something out. Or maybe it was that she read it because she would rather had to look something she wanted to know up than ask him. At least, that was the sort of feeling he was getting from her. Silence feel for a few seconds and instantly returned to awkward so Dana continued on saying the only thing she could think of, "I'm not going directly to the mountain though because once I go I plan on staying until it's dark so I'm going to head to breakfast first."

"Oh," Logan said in realization, "so was I."

"Fine," Dana commented, resolved to the fact that they would obviously just eat together. But he didn't seem to be expecting that they would be together after the elevator, but Dana had always had other plans so she let him know, "Even if you weren't planning on getting breakfast you were still going to wait for me to leave."

_Since when?_ Logan thought. "What?" Logan asked not understanding why she'd think he'd wait.

"You'd have to wait for me because I need to go there with you so you can pay for my snowboarding lessons," Dana explained. Logan was still staring at her confused as the elevator doors opened to the lobby so she further detailed as the stepped out and headed for the hotel restaurant, "I can ski, but I've always wanted to learn how to snowboard and since you said you're paying for everything, well, everything includes my lessons."

"Fine," Logan agreed begrudgingly as they crossed the lobby, "I could teach you myself and save money, but then I'd have to spend the day with you so I'll pay."

The reached the open doorway to the restaurant and the hostess at the front asked, "Two?"

"Yeah," Logan promptly replied.

She grabbed two menus and led them through the fairly empty restaurant where the hunting décor of the lobby was not only continued, but far more intense with its antler chandeliers. The thirty-something and very pregnant hostess stopped at a small table for two and put a menu on each side as they took their seats across from each other and said, "Enjoy," as she headed back to her station.

They both spent time thoroughly reading the breakfast menu because it was less awkward if they had something to do. After a couple of minutes as Logan continued to read each item's description carefully he couldn't help but comment, "Ew, breakfast quesadilla, that sounds disgusting."

Before Dana could reply a middle-aged woman whose nametag read "Marge" was standing beside the table and said, "Hi I'm Marge, I'll be your server today. What can I get for you?"

"I'll have the breakfast quesadilla and regular coffee, black," Dana promptly responded and smirked at Logan knowing what was coming once the waitress left.

"Denver omelet, coffee, cream and sugar," Logan listed off as his eyes didn't leave the smirking girl across from him.

Marge picked up their menus and said, "Okay. I'll be right back with your drinks."

As soon as Marge left Logan asked, "Are you actually going to eat what you ordered?"

Dana scoffed. He really thought she would just order it to bother him? Well, she would do something like that, but she had actually already decided to get it long before he commented on it. "Oh yeah, sounds delicious," she said, over embellishing.

"That's disgusting," Logan said just as Marge returned and placed their coffees in front of them, as well as cream and sugar for Logan.

As soon as Marge left again, Dana remarked in a clearly mocking tone, "You know my grandma drinks her coffee the same way."

Logan fumed and took another dig at her clearly disgusting eating habits. They continued insulting each other for the rest of breakfast. Every time Dana took a bite of her quesadilla Logan would make a face and compare what she was eating to something even more disgusting like how the salsa she poured all over it looked remarkably similar to what he threw up the last time he had the flu. Then every time Logan took a sip of his coffee, cream, and sugar combination Dana would insult his masculinity, saying things like, "Why isn't your pinky in the air when you lift up that cup? A lady always raises her pinky when she drinks. Come on Logan, start behaving like the lady everyone knows you are."

Overall, the breakfast was fairly typical.

* * *

The small bus shuttle to the mountain was crowded and silent, at least between Dana and Logan. As soon as they arrived Logan rented both of them everything they would need, paid for a lesson, and was out the door of the rental place and on a ski lift before Dana was even met her instructor. Though, once Dana's instructor introduced himself, Dana forgot all thoughts of Logan's quick ditch. 

As Dana waited at the counter for her instructor as she was told to do, she suddenly found a man towering over her. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and definitely over six feet tall. Looking up at him Dana finally understood the expression "Holy Abercrombie Batman." He had chocolate brown hair, the perfect tan, blazing blue eyes, and she knew it couldn't be possible, but Dana could have sworn she could see his six pack through his heavy blue Northface jacket. "Hi, I'm Lage and I'll be your instructor," he said holding out his hand with a very charming smile and with what sounded like a Swedish accent.

Dana shook his hand, returned the smile, and replied, "Hi, I'm Dana."

Dana immediately blushed as their hands came into contact. Sparkling eyes, an accent and she was pretty sure she could see the muscles in his legs through his pants; it was just too much for her. Lage's pants actually looked exactly like the ones Logan was wearing, black cargo snowboard pants, except Dana immediately noted that they looked much better on the tall, muscular Lage. Actually, come to think of it her pants looked the same as theirs, except hers were white. And now she immediately regretted that she was wearing her warmest jacket because it was a hot pink bubble jacket and it did nothing for her figure. Oh no, she also brought a hat and goggles and that was going to mess up her hair and face. Gosh, of all the ways to meet a hot guy she had to meet one when she was going to end up looking horrible, she was so not lucky.

Twenty minutes into the lesson Dana fell down for the first time and Lage rushed to help her up, which inspired her idea to fall frequently so she could get picked up. Two hours into the lesson though, she was still being doted on in the same professional yet very friendly manner by the striking instructor. By the third hour it was getting really annoying to pretend to fall down because Dana was actually catching on fairly quick. So, Dana finally let herself get through the easy run without falling and Lage suggested that the progress deserved a break.

They returned to the bottom of the mountain and the pro shop where Dana found out that beverages and a snack was included in the fee for training that Logan had paid. After a short break, during which Lage had double checked how long of a lesson Logan had paid for,-the entire day- they returned outside.

As Lage was explaining that he'd like to have Dana try a few more easy runs before letting her progress to an intermediate, Lage noticed something over Dana's shoulder and said, "Oyv not again."

Dana's brows furrowed in confusion. One minute she was enjoying the way Lage said slopes, with his accent it sounded like slovpes and his lips would pucker ever so slightly, and then the next second he seemed to be preoccupied with something and talking about whatever it was.

"De husbands, fiancés, and de boyfriends, alvays vith de dirty looks," Lage said while continuing to stare at something over Dana's shoulder.

Dana glanced behind her and followed his gaze. As soon as she saw who he was looking at she immediately blurted out, "He's not my boyfriend, he just paid for me to come here."

"He is definitely yealous," Lage observed, very familiar with men being jealous of him spending time with their significant others.

_Oh no. That was so wrong_. Dana was about to set Lage straight when what felt like a large clump of snow hit her in the back of her head. _Damn him_.

"O! I'm so sorry, dat vas obviously meant for me. Dis kind of ding happens a lot," Lage quickly apologized, misreading what was happening. "Dough de yealous man is not usually so hot," Lage added with his gaze heading back to a laughing Logan.

No wonder why she wasn't getting any kind of reaction from him with all the heavy flirting she had been doing, he was gay. Though now she felt like an idiot. Really, with a gay brother she should have better gay-dar. Ignoring the embarrassment of having spent the past three and a half hours throwing herself at a guy who wasn't into her gender, Dana explained the situation a bit, "Yeah, he's hot but he's an ass because that snowball hit it's target."

Lage's handsome features contorted in confusion, which was yet another good look for him as all faces had been so far that day. Before he could ask what she meant and why her boyfriend would throw something at her, Dana finished brushing the remaining snow out of her hair and said clearly trying to contain her anger, "Please excuse me for a minute Lage, I'll be right back." Dana turned on her heel and added to herself mostly, "After I kick his ass."

_It's late and I'm feeling so tired  
Having trouble sleeping._

As Logan saw Dana marching towards him, though still about a hundred yards away, he prepared. He quickly formed about a dozen snowballs. But Dana could see what he was doing so she paused and made a snowball and threw it at him before he could throw one of his.

_This constant compromise  
Between thinking and breathing._

Logan saw it coming and ducked. When he looked back up again and met her eyes he was wearing his typically cocky smirk.

_Could it be I'm suffering  
Because I'll never give in?_

Dana, now frustrated, stopped her quick march to him again, fifty yards or so away this time, and hastily made another snowball and launched it at him. He managed to avoid it again and laughed as it zoomed by his head. "You're such a bastard!" Dana hollered, completely forgetting she was at a family friendly place.

_Won't say that I'm falling in love  
Tell me I don't seem myself_

In the second that she yelled Logan threw another snowball at her and once again hit her, squarely in the chest this time. Dana was fuming and to further antagonize her Logan yelled, "That's the third time today I've gotten you Cruz and you have yet to follow through on your little threat. That's right, I'm awesome and you suck."

_Couldn't I blame something else?  
Just don't say I'm falling in love_

Oh, that was it. Dana charged at Logan, running as fast as she could in the snow. Logan immediately grabbed a few of his already made snowballs and took off in the semi-wooded area behind him.

_Some kind of therapy  
Is all I need_

He would hide behind a tree, she would seemingly have him trapped and then he would hit her with a snowball. She'd try to retaliate, but nine times out of ten her snowball would hit the tree he was hiding behind instead of him.

_Please believe me  
Some instant remedy  
That can cure me completely_

They continued lugging snowballs at each other in anger, for Dana, and competition, for both, for ten minutes before the nature of their fight, of them, seemed to change. Suddenly they were both laughing and smiling as they continued to run after each other trying to pelt the other with snowballs.

_Could it be that I'm suffering  
Because I'll never give in?_

And after about five minutes of the good natured snowball fight, Logan had managed to tackle a laughing Dana in the snow and kiss her while she was still smiling, but then again, so was he.

_Won't say that I'm falling in love  
Tell me I don't seem myself  
Couldn't I blame something else?_

Dana couldn't let the opportunity of his distraction pass her by, so while they continued to make out lying in the cold snow, Dana grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it between his shirt and his back.

_Just don't say I'm falling in love  
'cause I've been there before and it's not enough  
So nobody say it_

Logan immediately sat up in surprise, but simply smiled at her and leant down again to kiss her.

_Don't even say it  
I've got my eyes shut  
Won't look, oh  
No, I'm not in love_

They were lying in freezing snow and Logan had some melting between his bare back and layers of clothing, but neither seemed to notice, completely caught up in each other.

_Could it be I'm suffering  
Because I'll never give in?  
I'm falling love  
Tell me I don't seem myself good enough for something else  
Just don't say I'm falling in love  
Falling in love_

Lage had watched Dana run off and after about five minutes he figured he wasn't going to have her as a client for the rest of the day. But after twenty minutes back in the pro shop and despite the fact that she had not come in looking for him, Lage decided to look for his client. He didn't immediately see them, the trees were sort of off any normal paths, but upon seeing the pair still horizontal in the snow he knew he could take on a new client for the rest of the day. Lage headed back and hoped that his next client would be single, jealous boyfriends always had a way of interrupting his lessons.

* * *

An hour later Dana and Logan were back on a shuttle bus to return to the resort. Logan's many times there had caused him to learn that if one waited until sunset to leave, it'd be a very long wait for the shuttle. Like their first ride on the shuttle, their second was quiet. But once they returned to the hotel and began the wait for an elevator again Logan asked, "Going to that New Years Eve party down here tonight?" 

"Don't know," Dana said with a shrug, her eyes remaining on the elevator doors. She added casually, "You?"

"Maybe," Logan said with a shrug of his own, his eyes also remaining on the object they were waiting for. He elaborated in the silence, "It's always pretty lame, but there's not really anything else to do here."

"Yeah, no wonder why your parents let you stay here by yourself. You couldn't find trouble here if you tried," Dana commented as the elevator arrived. Five people got off and Logan and Dana got on and Dana continued, "I mean this place doesn't even have mini-bars."

"I don't think any of them do around here. This is the nicest place in the area so if any of them did this would be it," Logan informed, fairly familiar with the area since his family had been going there on vacation every year since he could remember. Though, the last three years they hadn't shown up for the planned vacation.

"The sun goes down and this becomes the most boring place on earth," Dana said only slightly exaggerating, in her mind at least. Thinking back to the previous night, she couldn't remember the last time that she fell asleep that early, it was before eleven, and all because there wasn't anything else to do.

They had been standing side to side, a foot between them, and conversing so far without actually looking at the other. But Logan leaned over and turned his head towards her as he said quietly, "That's why I brought you."

God, there was that heart racing thing again. What was wrong with her? Lucky for Dana the elevator doors opened and she walked out without replying. Logan followed, he wasn't sure if he was looking for a reply, not verbal at least.

Dana put her key card in the slot and hurried in, but not before saying to Logan, "Later."

What did that mean? Was it simply her saying a common saying upon departing or was she promising what he wanted by supplying a time that was not now? The door shutting snapped Logan out of his thoughts. He was standing in front of his door with his key card out, but finally put it in and opened the door. He went inside still wondering what was going on.

And in her room, Dana was doing the same. She didn't know why she said what she said or anything at all or what she meant by it or why her heart was still racing and why she was hot despite the fact that her clothes were wet from the snow. She didn't feel like she knew anything anymore. But as she stripped off the wet clothing and started a nice hot shower she decided it was best not to know. She didn't want to know what was going on, she told herself it was nothing, because if she really thought about it she'd figure out it was something and then she'd probably have to give it up. She didn't want to realize what was happening because she didn't want everything to stop.

* * *

Logan and Dana had very similar nights. Alone in their rooms they ordered room service for dinner and watched TV. But by ten-thirty Dana was beyond bored and she decided to head downstairs to the New Years Eve party being thrown by the resort. Logan said it was lame, but she figured he could be wrong since she thought he was pretty lame, while he thought he was pretty awesome. They often had opposing opinions about things and as she waited for the elevator to take her down to the party she hoped that this would be another situation where that was true. 

Inside his room Logan was debating what he should do. Pretty much for the entirety of the past two hours all he thought about doing was getting Dana to come over or just going over to her room. He wanted…what he always did with her. But he hadn't called or texted or gone over because tonight he realized it didn't feel so much like want, but need. And he couldn't need, he wouldn't let himself need. So since he had the feeling of need, it had to be squashed, which to him meant denying it not only from his thoughts but from himself all together. So as a distraction from everything, at about eleven o'clock Logan decided to head down to the lame party.

Dana had been at the party for thirty minutes and for the first time that she could recall she agreed with Logan. The party was in the restaurant and attached bar. There was a dance floor with a disco ball above it in the bar and the music, which was mostly bad in Dana's opinion, could be heard throughout the entire place, no escaping it. It wasn't just the music and the fact that none of the drinks and food were complimentary, but also that the room was mostly filled with couples and families.

Dana had tried talking to a semi-cute guy who was possibly younger than her, but he was there with his family and he kept looking over his shoulder as if expecting his mother to pop up and start telling embarrassing stories about him. It turned out Logan was right; people with their families didn't like to hook up. Although, thinking about what it would be like to have her family around Dana could definitely understand that. But it wasn't like she was looking to "hook up" either. She was just looking for someone around her own age to talk to, to attempt to enjoy the party, to distract her from the fact that all she really wanted to do was go upstairs and knock on the door next to hers.

And then she saw him. He sauntered into the dark room, lit only by strings of mini-white lights and the disco ball. He scanned the room looking at it like he had seen it all before and she realized that he probably had. She highly doubted that anything about the hotel's New Year's party routine had changed since they were currently playing an Eagles song. Though, she kind of liked "One of These Nights." She listened to the song fill the room and watched him weave his way through the crowd to get a drink and she felt like her night suddenly got a lot better. But she would tell herself that it was because of the music.

He noticed her, he noticed her immediately. She had changed into this white curve hugging cowl neck sweater that looked like it would feel so soft to touch. And the minute he was looking at her from the other side, after he had crossed the room, and he saw her very well fitted dark denim jeans all kinds of impure thoughts flooded his mind. But he didn't walk over to her and he tried to stop his gaze from falling on her because he was supposed to be squashing those kinds of feelings tonight.

Dana was to the far back left corner of the room near the end of the bar that spanned the left wall. She was approached by a guy that looked to be in his early thirties, late twenties maybe, and he was wearing a wedding ring. She was kind of disgusted by the fact that she was being hit on by a married man, but for the first time since Logan had arrived forty minutes earlier his gaze was finally firmly on her.

She was tired of analyzing everything she said or did. _Nothing meant anything_, she told herself firmly. It didn't mean absolutely anything that she caught his gaze around married guy's shoulder and she began heading for the opened doorway, knowing the entire time as she weaved her way through the crowd exactly what she was doing.

And it seemed right. Just as she began to essentially ditch the scumbag hitting on her a song she liked came on, the first one since The Eagles song. And she knew he wasn't close, but she knew he was following, just as she had wanted him to.

_I'm so tired of playing,  
Playing with this bow and arrow,_

Logan told himself that a sleazy guy around her meant it was necessary to stare. He brought her there and he had to make sure she came back, which meant he had to keep an eye on her with a creepy guy near her. Then she looked at him and he forgot all about the squashing he was supposed to be doing. She started walking away from the guy still holding his gaze. But then she was past him and not looking back, so he followed her.

_Gonna give my heart away,  
Leave it to the other girls to play,_

He was quite a few steps behind her though and found elevator doors open, waiting. She was inside alone. She didn't say anything when he entered, so he didn't say anything either, just stood beside her facing the elevator doors.

_For I've been a temptress too long._

There was maybe an inch of space between their sides, which was the closest they had been on the elevator together despite the fact that they had been crowded on it with other people. But the lack of space just showed that they both knew why they were there. She knew he knew why she left, the look she gave him said it all. And he knew what would eventually be happening if he followed her and he knew that by doing so it would tell her that he wanted it to happen, but he didn't care because he did want it to happen, he wanted it to happen so goddamn much.

_Hmm just,  
Give me a reason to love you,_

She wasn't going to make the first move though. She didn't mind making the first move; she had done it plenty of times with him. But then again she had made the first move this time too, she got him to the elevator, her intent very clear. So, he should make the second move not only because she made the first, but because she liked it when he took her by surprise, controlled her.

_Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,_

And that he did. He couldn't take the waiting anymore. He figured she was probably waiting for them to get to one of their rooms, but he had been wanting, no _needing_ this all night. One of his hands was on the back of her neck and the other was on her lower back pulling her to him as he collided his lips with hers in a split second.

_I just wanna be a woman._

There was absolutely no space between them as he kissed her deeply, urgently, but it wasn't enough. All thoughts of rules had completely left his mind the second she looked at him at the party. His hands skimmed down her backside gently and then roughly grabbed her upper thighs, fingers wrapping around to her inner thighs, and spread them apart and hoisted her up so her legs wrapped around his waist as he stumbled her into the wall behind her.

_From this time, unchained,  
We're all looking at a different picture,  
Through this new frame of mind,  
A thousand flowers could bloom,  
Move over, and give us some room._

She let out a half gasp half moan, surprised and pleased at his actions, but even though his fingers were still wrapped around her thighs and in an area that was supposed to be off limits for him she didn't stop him or them. Like the tight, fluttery feeling in her stomach, Dana was also ignoring the rules at the moment.

_Yeah,  
Give me a reason to love you,_

_Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,  
I just want to be a woman._

Despite the fact that all he could think of was absolutely how satisfying it was to merely feel her lips against his, and how he felt like he couldn't get enough of the taste of her, and how having her legs wrapped so tightly around him like that was surely going to make him lose all control very soon, he did manage to notice the elevator doors open to their floor. He carried her out, still wrapped around him and continuing the frenzied kissing. He managed to get to the right door immediately since his was only slightly to the left across the hall from the elevator, but it took him three tries with the key card to get it right without having to stop the activities.

Logan quickly got them directly to his bed without any accidents, but he fell onto the bed on top of her unceremoniously. Neither of them seemed to even notice the rough landing since it didn't interrupt their carnal behavior in the least.

The heater and fireplace weren't on like the previous night, but he quickly broke away from her for the briefest of seconds to remove his sweatshirt. He was hot, but he wasn't that hot. Just, every once in a while since this all started in the elevator he noticed something he was doing, though he wasn't sure what, was causing her to arch into him and he wanted to feel that much more than he could with the bulky sweatshirt on.

_So don't you stop, being a man,_

About fifteen minutes had passed since they left the party and having known the time when they left, something occurred to Logan. He pulled away suddenly, abruptly. He sat up until he was on his knees beside her on his bed. He was panting, as was she, from their activities. He was staring down at her, his hair a mess and his shirt a little askew. She sat up so she was leaning on her elbows and waited for him to explain why he suddenly stopped.

_Just take a little look from our side when you can,_

"It's almost midnight," he said still catching his breath, "I'll just go for a few minutes and come back later." With puffy lips and mused hair she was staring up at him, still confused. He said in further explanation, "The superstition. I should go."

_Sow a little tenderness,  
No matter if you cry._

She understood what he was talking about; it was, after all, her idea. But she really didn't care right now. Here he was, staring at her with his eyes completely clouded with lust and he stopped to talk, to say something that showed he listened to her, to make sure they did something that she told him was important to her, for them. But she couldn't think about that now. Noticing things like that only lead to her knowing that he cared about her and he wasn't supposed to care because they weren't supposed to care about something that was nothing. So, she didn't want to notice what was happening and the best distraction was to get caught up with him.

_Give me a reason to love you,  
Give me a reason to be,  
A woman,  
It's all I wanna be is all woman._

"Screw it," she breathed as she leaned up and captured his lips in another passionate kiss. Logan didn't object at all, but followed her back down to lying on top of her on his bed. After all, he really didn't want to leave.

_For this is the beginning of forever and ever,_

Midnight, the New Year, came and they were still together, and if the superstition was true, then maybe together for the year.

_It's time to move over__ ,  
So I want to be._

But things were already moving fairly fast, and suddenly they were moving faster. She sat back up briefly and tugged her sweater over her head. She was wearing a camisole like the previous night. Logan immediately devoured all the newly exposed skin. But then her hands had somehow come to take his shirt and wife-beater off all at once and he found himself with quite a bit of newly exposed skin as well, which she seemed to delight in. But then her tiny camisole was pushed up, his hands having done it as they roamed her stomach, and they were just below the bottom edge of her bra. And he could feel those occasional arches so much better now and then there was the sporadic and so enticing roll of her hips against his and he couldn't take it anymore.

Logan bolted up from her, figuring that moving quickly would make stopping easier. But looking down at her completely confused and disappointed expression and all that skin still showing, Logan knew that stopping with her would not be easy no matter what he did. To answer her unasked question of what was going on he said, "So, I'm going to go take a shower now…a cold one."

"What?" Dana asked, still not understanding due to the wonderful haze in her head that being with him created.

He scratched at the back of his neck uncomfortably. He really didn't want to have to explain it that much, but he explained begrudgingly, "If you don't want this going much much further, then…I really need to stop. Kind of maybe needed to stop like ten minutes ago, but…you still want to stick to those big rules of yours right?"

"Yeah," she quickly replied, now realizing everything that was happening and hoping he would leave and take that shower now before she completely lost her mind. After all, he was still shirtless, and God, so tempting.

Logan hopped off the bed as he said, "Right so I need that shower now." He then quickly grabbed some stuff as he dashed into his bathroom. He didn't want to ask her what she was going to do now or what was going to happen after his shower. It was too awkward to stay in that room. It felt like if he hadn't stopped them she wasn't going to. But he was doing the right thing by stopping them because if both of them ignored her rules then she'd probably regret it and then she'd be really mad at him, never talk to him again, never want to see him again kind of mad and he couldn't handle that. Yet as the cold water hit him, Logan realized that doing the wrong thing would have felt so much better, at least for a little while.

As soon as she heard the door to the bathroom shut Dana let her back fall back onto the mattress as she proceeded to panic. Until he mentioned "big rules" she hadn't even realized that he was almost at second base and she had done nothing to stop him. Sure things had definitely gotten very steamy that night and some rules had been abandoned completely, but as far as bases he still hadn't made it past first. What bothered her was that he was about to and she hadn't done anything to stop him. She was glad he did, but what if next time he didn't and she still didn't. Would it just be second she'd let him get to or would she have given in to third and home too? She couldn't let any of that happen. She had never let anything past first happen with a guy before and she couldn't let Logan past first because they'd all be firsts for her and Logan just couldn't be the first guy she let past first. Because she always had the notion that that guy was supposed to mean something, maybe not her soul mate or anything like that, but something that she wouldn't' regret. But Logan was supposed to and did mean nothing, and letting a nothing guy have firsts just seemed wrong.

As Dana continued to lie on the bed she managed to convince herself that she would have stopped them, but her not being the one to stop was a good test of him, to see how much he was paying attention and how devoted he was to their agreement. She had gotten really good at bull shitting herself. And lying to oneself was exhausting so as she lied on his bed and did so, she drifted off to sleep.

Logan took a longer shower than usual. He was normally a twenty minute shower guy, but tonight about thirty-five. Showering was a task and tasks kept his mind from thinking of the girl he had left on his bed, the one that was confusing him more and more lately. When he finally finished his shower though he expected her to have left and was surprised when he found her asleep on his bed. It felt like such a long day and he had planned on going to bed as soon as he got done with his shower, he had even already changed into his pajamas and everything. But she was in his bed, curled up on the left side actually. He considered waking her, but she had quite the violent streak and he didn't really feel like getting hit. So he carefully unzipped her boots and slid the covers from under her and put them on top of her. Surprisingly, she didn't wake up.

Now Logan had a choice. He could get in the other bed or he could just sleep in his bed despite the fact that she was in it. He got in the right side of his bed because he told himself that the cold climate would have kept the other bed still damp from when he had dumped water on her that morning. And he stuck to his right side, as far away from her as the queen sized bed would allow. He told himself that if she kicked him in her sleep it didn't matter that she was a girl and he was going to kick back. He told himself that choosing his bed had nothing to do with the fact that she was in it, but because it was _his_ bed. He was really good at bull shitting himself too.

* * *

Dana awoke in a dark room that wasn't her own, but she quickly recognized it as the room she had woken up in that morning. She wasn't in the same bed though and most different of all there was something slightly restraining her from moving. She turned her head to her left and found Logan about a foot away. She noted where she was in the bed and where she had been and realized she had moved, or been moved. He was sleeping on his stomach, his head turned facing her, his mouth opened, and his left arm lightly laying across her waist. Dana didn't find his touching surprising or unusual; he was always very "hands on" awake so of course he would be while they were sleeping. She considered removing his arm so he couldn't cop anymore feels or just going back to her room, but she was tired, she was already there and comfortable, so she just let herself fall back asleep. 

Logan awoke to annoyingly bright sunlight filling his room; he forgot to shut the curtains again. But without even opening his eyes he could tell that this morning was very different from the last. He opened his eyes and confirmed all of his suspicions; he was wrapped up with Dana. He was lying flat on his back for the most part; his legs were sort of turned toward her, to his right. Her head was resting on his right shoulder, somewhat snuggled into his neck. He could feel that she must have been sleeping on one of her arms, because the hand of that arm was on his side, while her other arm was draped across his upper chest. His right arm was around her mid-back and his left arm was reaching out to lightly hold her waist, underneath her shirt he noted to his delight. Their legs were a bit of a mess. He had no idea where her left one was, but her right leg was in between both of his, her knee slightly bent into his legs and resting lower thigh to lower thighs.

He didn't try to move, to unravel. He just stayed still, staring at their position until suddenly he dipped his head down a bit as he leaned in and caressed her lips with his ever so softly.

Dana immediately responded to the kiss, making it a little more aggressive. She hadn't been asleep, there was far too much light in the room to sleep. She kept her eyes closed telling herself that she was trying to fall back to sleep, but really she just didn't want to move. It felt good, perfect, right, everything it wasn't supposed to feel like to lie there with him. So she didn't think about how it felt, she thought about how it was too damn bright in his room because he wasn't smart enough to shut the curtains. And then he gave her a distraction in the form of a kiss and she wanted to be distracted a little bit more.

Logan hadn't had a plan or expectations when he kissed her. Hell, he didn't even know he was going to do it until he was doing it. Turned out to be a good impulse though because she was definitely into it, she had moved as she deepened the kiss so that she was completely on top of him.

She knew he was enjoying himself as well, which was why she stopped. It really hadn't lasted long, a couple of minutes or so, but after the previous night stopping quickly was probably a good idea. Dana could already "feel" things heading to the direction of the previous night. She sat up and immediately got off of him, sitting at his side because it was safer than straddling him, and said smiling, "You should go take another cold shower."

Yeah, he knew that was coming pretty much the second she got on top of him. He had just woken up, wasn't fully alert yet and had almost no self control. "Good way to wake up though," he commented with a smirk.

"Oh yeah. Much better than an alarm," she assured him.

She was still smiling and he didn't know it, but so was he. He was staring up at her and he didn't know what it was but God, he just wanted to kiss her. Whoa, no, he couldn't go there. It had already been established that they needed to stop so ignoring need, want, desire; he got up and headed to the shower as he yelled to her, "Be ready for the shuttle in an hour."

As she got up and left his room for hers, Dana was glad he didn't say anything about going to breakfast. She didn't want to eat another big breakfast before going out on the snow, which had turned out to be a mistake the previous day. She hadn't felt so great for most of her lesson, but all the purposeful and unintended falling probably didn't help.

Logan had also regretted eating such a heavy breakfast. He went there every year, but every year he always made that mistake at least one day of his trip. But remembering his usual routine he ordered a nice light continental breakfast from room service and had Dana sent one as well. He wasn't sure if he had made it clear that they would not be eating at the restaurant again so to make it clear he sent the food. It wasn't out of thoughtfulness or kindness; it was out of…clarity. Or at least that was what he decided.

Dana was pissed to hear someone knocking on her door just as she got out of the shower. If it was Logan she decided that she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her kicking his ass while wearing just a towel and that he'd have to receive punishment later. But when she opened her door and received food she was confused. She hadn't ordered anything, which was what she told the person delivering it. Once they said it was from the gentleman in the room next door it all made sense. But really, she wasn't as dense as him; she understood that they wouldn't be eating downstairs. It was pretty convenient that he sent her food though, now she wouldn't have to get a candy bar at the pro shop…though she probably still would.

After getting ready Dana called home again. The conversation with her father, then her mother, seemed to drone on forever. It was like time stopped so that she could have teeth pulled. Yes, she thought of having to talk to her parents as a painful experience and she was glad she didn't do it very often.

While Dana was feeling like she was ready to scratch her own eyes out if it'd make the conversation stop without getting her parents suspicious about her actual location, Logan was waiting. He was ready to go fifteen minutes early and he had absolutely no patience. But he was aware that he gave her an hour, he just didn't really care since it didn't take him the full hour to be ready. So after two minutes of waiting in his room he began waiting in the hall. After three minutes of standing still in the hall he began pacing, which he did for seven minutes. Her door still wasn't opening and he couldn't handle waiting anymore so he went in her room. When he checked in he was given two keys to each room and since he had only given her one of hers, he had the other one.

Dana's mother finally let her say goodbye just as she heard her door opening. She had been on her bed and as soon as she heard the door her hand instinctively went for the lamp on the nightstand beside her, ready to clobber whoever just entered with said object. Before she saw who was coming around the wall she moved the lamp to strike the intruder, but luckily Logan had quick reflexes and caught it.

"Whoa, geez Cruz, do you always greet people so nicely?" Logan quipped as he jerked the lamp out of her grip and set it back down on the table beside her.

"Me?! What about you? What the hell are you doing in _my_ room?" Dana yelled irately.

"I have a key," Logan replied nonchalantly, but he was smart enough to know that if he gave her time to respond he'd be sorry. So he attempted to avoid continuing this particular conversation and quickly commented as he headed for and out the door, "You're ready. Let's go."

Like leaving the room would make her not continue this or would make her less pissed. Dana grabbed her coat and put it on as she followed, but was only more angered by the fact that they weren't the only ones waiting for the elevator. She wasn't about to start an argument in front of completely strangers, especially not a family of six with four young kids, and Logan knew it, which was why when she joined him waiting he was smirking at her. Jackass.

The ride down was cramped thanks to the fact that there was already three people on the elevator when everyone from their floor got on. As soon as they got off Logan and Dana headed through the lobby for the front doors to go outside for the shuttle. Dana was relieved when the kids immediately headed the opposite direction in the lobby and she could resume the argument, because this was something that she absolutely wasn't going to allow.

There were still a lot of people around though so Dana kept her voice low, but menacing as she said to Logan walking beside her, "You can't just walk into my room any time you want-"

"Yeah I can, that's what the key means," Logan cut in, a typical arrogant air of superiority about him.

"No you can't," Dana said forcefully. Trying to make her point clear she elaborated, "What if I had been in the shower? Wh-"

"I could have joined you," Logan suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows and cutting her off again. But the very stern look Dana was wearing told him that was never going to happen. In fact, he would probably be lucky if this argument ever ended. It was going to be a very long day.

What Logan didn't know was that someone had overheard his last comment, someone that would make his argument with Dana the very least of his worries.

* * *

**A/N: Please read the following note and if you'd like, other information concerning the story and the second half of the chapter follows. **

**Important Note To All Readers: **

The average hit to review count on each chapter dropped severely with the last chapter. While the previous chapters had one review per every five hits, the last chapter had one review per every fifteen hits. I am not naïve enough to think that every hit is a read, which was why those hits are actually rounded down quite a bit. The total hits for various periods of time for a new chapter did not actually fall at all and alerts have continued to rise far beyond my expectations. While I would never stop writing this story, I have to admit that it was discouraging. It made it easier to blow off writing this chapter when the opportunity presented itself, though I only chose to do so twice. I love writing, especially this story, and even if there are immense delays between chapters, know that I will always be continuing it until there are twenty two (though this chapter in two parts and possibly others later) chapters posted and it is finished.

Yet this drop in reviews is something I noticed wasn't only happening to my story in this particular category. And honestly it sucks so much. A character, a line, a glance, a look, an idea provided by a television show or a movie or a book has actually managed to capture our attention, to make us wonder, to make us think, to make us write and post and put a piece of ourselves out for anyone to see. And if there isn't some little piece of you in all the things you write then you are doing something immensely wrong and missing out on a release that is absolutely wonderful. We see things though, things that make us write and reveal pieces of ourselves to complete strangers, and we do this despite the fact that it is typically so easy to ignore anything and everything that goes on around us, to let a phrase get lost in a muddle of other words. And then the hit counts keep sky rocketing and the reviews stay static and it's discouraging and disappointing. And maybe the reader enjoyed it, though they didn't review, and wonders why the author isn't updating, but what they don't realize is that the author probably received more discouragement instead of encouragement to continue. We put ourselves out there and we can love what we're writing, but we still need to be told that it's okay because we're only human and we need reassurance.

Looking around the category, there are so many unfinished stories and what that tells me is that discouragement won for many many fellow authors. Was a story you loved suddenly stopped? I think all of us could probably think of at least one and you should ask yourself, did you review? Did you let the author know that there was something you liked or loved about their story? Even the smallest of comments mean something.

If the discouragement continues to out weigh the encouragement for this story, don't worry those faithful few reviewers and the only people I know are actually reading, I will still continue. As I said before, I am not one to let things like this permanently effect me. But looking around at all the unfinished stories, at the stories with more chapters than reviews despite the fact that they don't deserve to be so unrecognized, lack of response does permanently affect a lot of authors. So, the next time you read something and you like it, make sure you let the author know. Because if you simply read something and like it, the author will only see the hit count go up and the reviews stay static, and will be left to the logical conclusion that whoever was reading didn't like it enough to say so, that what they wrote simply wasn't good enough. And if you don't tell someone that you enjoyed their story enough to want them to continue, you may find that it's never continued.

**On to other business: **

**The hotel and accent and snow activities: **The hotel, Northwoods Resort, is a real place and if my descriptions weren't painting as detailed of a picture as you'd like, feel free to look it up. There weren't a ton of pictures and I took liberty with some of it, but I hope I painted a fairly detailed picture of their surroundings. Lage, means tall, and I tried to give him an accurate Swedish accent by studying the Swedish language, but it turned out that something truly accurate would have been un-understandable so I didn't implement all of the changes. And I'm so sorry if there is anything wrong with my snowboarding or skiing descriptions or mentions. I've never been skiing or snowboarding, with my complete lack of coordination and athletic ability I never had the desire to. I tried to not go into any detail on either snow activity since I know nothing about it, but if I got anything wrong, again, I'm so sorry.

**The iMix: **I made the iMix and was told that it was created, but I can't find it now. It was titled Discovering Us by SS (1) and it may show up a bit later, I'm not sure, so if you're interested in it, do look for it. Also, iTunes didn't have some of the songs, but I've listed those on the mix and if you'd like to find those I suggest Napster, which I know has at least a few of them.

**Opinion, please?** I'm greatly considering deleting the introduction to this. It does explain a lot, but I feel like it probably also puts people off a bit. If you have an opinion about whether or not I should keep it, I would greatly appreciate if you shared that opinion.

**Next Chapter:** Caught Up: part 2 is the last day and night of Logan and Dana's stay at Big Bear and everything changes, yet somehow it's not that new. I know, awfully cryptic of me, but since all of you could probably guess who "someone" is, I've got to try and be a little mysterious. Though, keep in mind that one of the other things to look forward to is the look the movie reminds Dana about at the beginning. That look hasn't happend yet. It happens on the last night and we've left off at the beginning of the last day. Oh, and in part two you'll find out how Nicole's date went and quite possibly, if I can work it in correctly, what Chase and Zoey were doing at midnight on New Years Eve/Day (but that may have to wait until chapter ten or simply be an out of chapter "missing moment" so to speak). And like I mentioned, I'm already about a third of the way into the chapter and I'd like to have it up in the next week, though I make no promises. For progress on the chapter and on other stories, check my profile, which I'm trying to update with progress regularly.

Um…hmm, it seems like there was something else I was planning on mentioning, but nothing is coming to mind. Well, if I remember I suppose I'll just have to try and get the continuation of the chapter out faster. So, let us all hope that I remember whatever I wanted to say so that I am even further motivated to get out the rest of the chapter and that it's up before you can believe it.

**Of course, reviews also motivate me greatly, so if you feel like doing so, please do review. **

**Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed the first part of the chapter!**

**-Sarah**


	11. 9: Caught Up: part 2

**A/N:** Whew, took me long enough didn't it? I am so incredibly sorry for the great wait in between chapters. My last year of college has been killing me as well as the added task of applying to grad schools. California certainly has a lot of requirements to apply to credential and masters programs to become a teacher-it really doesn't make sense that we are somehow then, what, 49th in the ranking of the quality of our schools compared to other states (so second to last). Anyway, since I only need credit at this point I attempted to sign up for easier classes this last quarter so I could actually sleep and eat and have a life this last quarter. So far it's been going well since I did manage to finish the last fourteen pages of this and all of my first week of the quarter work. It would have been finished sooner if my computer hadn't turned into a complete bitch lately; you know randomly shutting off on me, freezing, talking about me behind my back, etc. To get its bitchness taken out it had to be away from me and with the aptly name "Computer Guy" all spring break-making any progress on this nearly impossible. Anyway, it's done now and if the quarter remains easier you will see more from me and if you don't then I have been sucked back into a world where I don't sleep, don't have time to eat regularly, and have almost no fun.

**And thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter. It meant so much to me and kept me constantly eager to update even when my schedule wouldn't allow me to write a single word. **

**Announcement:** I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but this is now the longest story in this category by quite a lot. It's going to get much longer though as there are twelve more chapters to go, but more about that at the end.

**Disclaimer:** I haven't said this in a while, so I felt I might as well re-state that I don't own Zoey 101 or any songs used. I think the whole not owning it is pretty obvious though since if I did this would be how season three went.

**Music:** "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra, "For Once In My Life" as performed by Michael Buble, and "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers.

**I'm not sure how I feel about how this chapter turned out, but I hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

**Chapter 9: Part 2: Caught Up (continued)**

* * *

A petite woman in her early forties with shoulder length ravenous hair and a light completion was standing at the front desk with her husband. He was handling getting them checked in. She wasn't really paying attention to anything in particular going on around her until she heard a very familiar voice say, "I could have joined you." She immediately whipped around from facing the polite staff worker at the counter helping her husband and scanned the room. The lobby was quite crowded. They had been there many times just before noon on New Years day and she couldn't remember it ever being that busy, but finally she managed to spot him through the crowds, he was near the door.

She smiled and turned back to her husband and said as he was signing something, "Logan's here."

"Of course he is dear, that's why we came," he replied, teasing her slightly.

She swatted at his arm playfully and turned back to where she had last seen her son. The crowd in the lobby seemed to be slowly departing, some waiting for the shuttle to the mountain and some waiting for a shuttle to the local zoo. If she remembered the mountain shuttle times correctly then she guessed it was the few headed to the zoo departing. But those departing cleared just enough space in the room for her to see that her son had stopped and was talking to a girl by the door. Her son with a girl, how very unoriginal. But he wasn't smirking- which he got from his father-and he didn't seem to be flirting.

The girl looked angry, he looked frustrated. It dawned on her, they were having an argument.

Not wanting to turn from the completely unusual scene, she swatted at her husband's back to try and get him to turn around.

"What?" he asked instead of turning around for the in-training girl who was checking him in still seemed a bit confused, now not sure that she had given him the correct key.

"Did Logan say what friend he was bringing with him?" she asked knowing that if he had said she didn't remember the answer. Maybe he did say though, but if it was a girl she would have definitely remembered that.

He thought for a minute, but he was certain in his answer, "No. Why?"

"He's with a girl," she said slowly, still not understanding if what she was seeing was what she was seeing.

He chuckled as he said, "Honey I know that you don't like that he inherited my previous 'ladies man' ways, but I told you just give it time, he'll grow out of it like I did."

She couldn't believe she was saying it, but she was watching her son listen and react to this girl and she wasn't going to say it, but then her son grabbed the girl and kissed her. She slapped him once in response, but then completely gave in. She had to say it, because it seemed to be true, "I think he already did."

Her husband turned around and followed her gaze immediately. "That could be nothing," he said knowing that he had caught his son kissing many girls and he himself had done the same in his youth. He knew that kissing a girl didn't always mean anything.

But she felt she was right so she explained how this was different than other girls they had seen him with, "They were arguing, then he kissed her, then she slapped him, but then she kissed him back."

"Good move," he commented and elaborated upon his wife's curious look, "It's smart to kiss a girl who's trying to argue with you. You stop arguing and you get to kiss her."

She looked at him incredulously, "That's a horrible way to deal with an argument. You're supposed to listen to what the other person is saying and you're supposed to-"

She was cut off by her husband softly kissing her and smiling. She smiled in return and let it go, but what she wasn't going to let go was what she had concluded from the brief moments she had seen her son with this girl, "That's his girlfriend."

He didn't really think so, but instead of saying that again now, he asked in an attempt to make his point, "Do you really think that since summer when he snuck a number of girls around our house, that he's met a girl that he likes enough to bring here to meet us?"

"No," she quickly responded, having a very different take on everything than her husband. He seemed to think he had won her over, but she squashed that, "I think he met a girl that he likes enough to forget about other girls and about us, because he brought her here alone, to be with just her." As a bit of an after thought as she let her gaze return to her son who was now handing something over to the girl from his wallet, she added, "And I'm not so sure that he just likes her."

Her son moved to kiss the girl again, but she stopped him saying something. He began glancing around and when his eyes finally connected she smiled warmly in response and waved. He turned back to the girl, quickly. It seemed that they surprised him by their presence, but that was what she wanted and it was the only the first of two major surprises she had in store for him.

Her husband noticed his son notice them and commented, "Well it looks like we'll find out the truth now."

"Twenty bucks she's his girlfriend," she proposed confidently.

"A thousand she's not," he countered cockily.

"Fine," she agreed with a playful smile as she watched her son approach with the girl by his side. They weren't holding hands, but she was still sure she was winning.

* * *

A few minutes prior across the lobby Logan was listening to Dana ramble on and on. She kept using phrases like, "you had no right," "give me that key," and "you're such an ass." He was really tired of it so he did what he always did with her to get her to shut up, he kissed her. He grabbed the sides of her face and pulled her to him quickly until their lips met. He kissed her and she slapped him, but that wasn't unusual nor was it going to make him stop. He was right not to stop, he knew she'd give in and she did. She kissed him back and he moved one of his arms to wrap around her waist while the other remained gently cupping her face.

She was still pissed at him, but she couldn't resist giving in. She kind of hated that she couldn't resist, but once she did it she always forgot that she had, too caught up in the pleasure of it. Plus, giving in gave her another strategy. She let one arm wrap around his neck while she gently fished his wallet from his back pocket with her other hand.

He knew what she was doing, he just didn't care. But remembering that they were in public he pulled away after a kissing her for no longer than he had gotten to earlier that morning. He held her by the waist still and she didn't let go of him either, but it had never actually occurred to either of them to break their embrace.

She held up his wallet smirking and threatened, "Give me my other key or I'll be taking both for your room too."

He grabbed the wallet and had to let go of her to hand over the correct card. He didn't mind giving it up, especially not if it ended the fighting.

She took the offered card from his hand smiling proudly.

Maybe it was the smiling, he decided, that made him want to kiss her so badly. He moved to follow that impulse, but she stopped him saying, "It feels like we're being watched."

"We're in public," he said brushing it of with a shrug.

"Yeah but…" she trailed off, craning her head to scan the people behind her.

He scanned the room as well figuring that it if he could assure her no one was watching he might be able to follow the impulse he had. No one looking, no one looking, crap, someone looking, two very familiar someone's.

Logan's head snapped back to Dana and a flood of curse words flew from his mouth.

"What?" Dana asked curious at his sudden Tourette like personality.

"Just remember that this is not my fault," Logan began whilst praying that she didn't seriously injure him.

"What?" she demanded this time, knowing that whatever he said next couldn't possibly be good.

Logan was wincing in anticipation of her reaction as he said, "My parents are here."

Dana didn't think that she heard him correctly because he had told her when he asked her to come that his parents _never_ came anymore. "Your what are where?" Dana asked in a low furious voice, fearing that she had heard right and he had lied or was simply wrong

"My parents are here," Logan managed to force himself to say with great difficulty. He glanced at his parents and Dana followed his glance to see a friendly looking petite dark haired woman smiling at them with her average height husband with the same dusty brown hair as Logan standing next to her. Dana turned back to Logan with an expression on her face that he recognized very well and he immediately plead, "Please don't hit me, they're watching and it would look weird." Dana was about to say that she didn't care and hit him anyway, but he quickly continued, "They're going to know that you're the one I brought here. All they have to do is ask what rooms they're paying for and…they're going to find out."

Logan was clearly stressing out about everything and Dana figured that he knew that she was going to shoot down the one good solution, which she did, "I am not going to pretend to be your girlfriend so don't even ask. Under no circumstances, including these, would I ever agree to be your girlfriend even if it wasn't real."

Logan wasn't at all surprised and he wasn't crazy about the idea of pretending she was his girlfriend either. But the other most obvious explanation for her being there was the truth and he didn't think that'd go over well with her either as he pointed out, "Yeah well do you really want me to introduce you as the slutty girl who came here to be my make- out buddy?"

"I am not slutty," Dana quickly retorted insulted by his comment.

"And you think they're going to think you're some kind of nun when you came here just to make-out with me?" Logan responded easily, having already thought out the direction of the truth and really not wanting to have to go with it, though his parents probably wouldn't be surprised.

"I did not just come here because of you. I came because it was free," Dana retaliated, insulted by his statements once again.

Logan rolled his eyes in response because it didn't really matter, that didn't effect the situation they were in now. They couldn't just be friends because he was almost positive that his parents had seen him kiss Dana. And they couldn't tell the truth because it'd maintain his parent's opinion of him and give them a really bad impression of Dana. And they couldn't pretend to be a real couple because Dana wouldn't let them; though he felt similar, he was desperate enough to do it anyway, if she would go for it, which she clearly wasn't. "The longer we stand over here the more suspicious they're probably getting," Logan realized and said with a groan. He rubbed the back of his neck as he closed his eyes; he took a deep breath, exhaled, and said opening his eyes again and nodding his towards his parents, "Okay, let's go."

Logan started towards his parents and Dana followed, frantically asking, "What are you going to tell them?"

Logan simply shrugged and said not sounding too worried anymore, "I don't know, I'll figure something out."

Dana stared at him for a second in disbelief. He didn't have a plan and in three more steps she would be meeting his parents? This trip was quickly turning hellish. But Dana was distracted from her thoughts about what a horrible idea it had been to actually accept his offer and come, because they had arrived in front of Logan's parents.

Logan's mother had actually grown impatient and met Logan the step before he got to her and she wrapped him in what appeared to be a very tight hug as she said, "Logan honey I missed you so much."

She was standing on her tip toes a bit to reach him and Logan attempted to return the hug, but with her crushing his arms by his sides it was rather difficult. "Mom it's only been three days…and …I need to breathe," Logan said, struggling a bit at the end because despite her small size she had one bone crushing hug.

"Sorry," she said releasing him and stepping away, back to her husband's side and not looking sorry at all as she beamed at her son with a radiant smile.

"Logan," his father said, giving him a quick one armed hug, which Logan returned in the same friendly manner as his father.

Logan's parents stood before Logan and Dana looking between the pair, waiting. Dana had realized what they were waiting for and she was waiting for Logan to do it because they were his parents and he said he'd come up with something to tell them so he should do the introducing. But getting rather annoyed at the silence and at the fact that Logan didn't seem to have any idea what he was supposed to be doing now, Dana was about to introduce herself when Logan said, "Oh, right. Uh, mom, dad, this is Dana."

Before Logan could continue and get out the return of "Dana this is my mom and dad," Logan's mother had let out a small squeal and whooshed across the two feet separating them and gathered Dana in the same bone crushing hug that she had had Logan in. Dana was stunned and remained ridged. Logan was equally surprised, his mom seemed really happy, like ridiculously happy and she looked like she was glowing. It was weird.

It got even weirder when Logan's mother genuinely gushed to Dana as she hugged her, "It's so good to meet you. You have no idea how thrilled I am that Logan finally has an actual girlfriend."

So many things immediately raced through Dana's mind. She could barely breathe under the woman's very sincere and warm hug. She already liked Logan's family better than hers since so far there hadn't been any judgmental glares. He was a lucky bastard for having a great family. She was a little surprised that his family seemed to know about his track record with girls, but she supposed it would be hard not to notice that he had flavor of the day. And lastly, but most importantly, she was going to have to disappoint the nice woman hugging her because there weren't any circumstances where she'd be Logan's girlfriend.

Logan was alarmed at his mother's mention that Dana was his girlfriend, but pretending seemed like the easiest idea to him. He decided then that if Dana didn't correct his mother, he wasn't going to. He was perfectly willing to pretend since it made everything easier.

As abruptly as Logan's mother had hugged Dana she also released the still somewhat shocked Dana, and in one quick movement returned to her husband's side. Her radiant smile still plastered on her face she promptly plead of him, "Can we tell now?"

He wasn't surprised, his wife was never very patient, but to make sure that she wanted to really do this now, he reminded her, "But I thought you said you wanted to do it at lunch or possibly wait for dinner?"

"But good news," she said with a gesture to Dana, "should join more good news."

He didn't really think that made sense, but he knew that telling would only make his wife happier, if that was even possible at this point since she was practically bursting with joy. "Go ahead," he said with an indulgent smile. His wife reached up and pulled his face down towards hers to give him a peck on the cheek as a thanks. She wrapped her arm through his and interlaced their fingers as she turned back to Dana and Logan looking like she was going to pop.

Logan's mother's gesture to her jolted Dana out of her surprised stupor and she was going to say that she wasn't Logan's girlfriend, but then his dad said something and his mother kissed his father, which she didn't see the need to interrupt. His mother looked eager, but since nothing was actually being said, though Logan's mother clearly planned to say something, Dana figured she could jump in and deny the whole girlfriend thing, but Logan's mother stopped her.

Logan's mother took a deep breath, looked at Logan, and said with a smile that was so big that it looked like it hurt, "Logan, you're going to have a little brother or sister!" She was clearly thrilled as she made the announcement and her left hand, the one that wasn't intertwined with her husband's, immediately rested on her stomach.

Dana was about to say congratulations to be polite and then add on that she wasn't Logan's girlfriend to get that mess cleaned up, but then something unexpected happened. Logan said disbelievingly, "You're not?"

Dana glanced at him then because it didn't sound like a shocked happy like one would expect of any normal person, but worried and fearful. He looked the same as he sounded.

"Yep, I'm pregnant," his mother gladly confirmed.

Logan seemed furious at the confirmation and growled, "I can't believe this. How could you?!" He stormed off angrily, not waiting for an answer to his question, clearly having decided the answer before he even asked the cryptic incomplete question.

Dana was completely bewildered. She knew Logan was selfish, but being pissed at his parents for getting a sibling seemed extreme.

The once radiant smile immediately fell from his mother's face and tears began to form in her eyes. Her husband gathered her in his arms and rubbed her back soothingly as she said with a sniffle, "Well, we knew that might happen."

Dana felt awkward and out of place and figured she had two choices. One, she could head out the lodge and catch the bus to the mountain spending her day ignoring everything. Or, she could go find Logan and find out what was going on. She opted for the second option and slipped away from his parents and headed for the stairs figuring he may have retreated to his room. It wasn't like she was concerned about him after his little outburst, though she was curious, but she figured if she was getting back to campus the next day then that depended on him so it was best to get everything settled now instead of last minute.

Plus, whenever he was rude to anyone she always kicked or hit him and he was just really rude to his mom and she was never one to let an opportunity pass her by.

Dana was relieved to see that his door was shutting as she reached their floor because she had a feeling that if she had to knock she wouldn't be let in. She caught the door before it shut and strode into the room. Logan was sitting on the floor in between the two beds with his back to his bed and his feet towards the spare bed. His knees were bent to a one hundred and forty five angle to fit in the small space and his hands were aimlessly resting on his knees. He seemed to be staring at the sage green pine leaves and amber pine cone pattern on the comforter in front of him.

Dana sat down beside him and sighed before she said trying to sound completely uninterested, "Tell me what's going on before I seriously hurt you for talking to your mother like that."

Logan was silent, unmoving, not even acknowledging that Dana was there and it disturbed her greatly. A minute passed in silence and she was starting to worry, she could feel her anxiety building and she didn't know why. So what if Logan didn't seem at all like Logan right now? She wasn't supposed to care.

Finally, after what seemed like the longest minute and a half ever, Logan said glancing at her and in an even tone, "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend."

She could tell by the look in his eyes as he stared at her awaiting her answer that he was absolutely serious. It disturbed Dana further because he wasn't arrogant and he wasn't joking or manipulating, he wasn't anything she knew him to be. He was so rapidly becoming less and less of himself and she knew that she couldn't really be herself because it would be so clearly inappropriate right now. She had told him never just minutes ago, but adjusting to the changed situation she amended, "I told you I wouldn't do that, but if you tell me why you need me to, maybe I will."

Logan turned away from her, his gaze forward again but unfocused. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. He hated talking about it, thinking about it, and acknowledging that it ever happened at all. He had never actually ever told anyone, but Dana was stubborn and he needed her to do this so he figured he didn't have a choice. He shut his eyes and forced himself to admit, "This isn't the first time my mom's been pregnant since she had me."

Dana immediately feared everything he was going to say next because she knew that up until his mother's announcement five minutes prior, Logan was an only child. Now she felt horrible for asking, especially since she had no idea how to deal with these type of situations. She couldn't deal with sad or upset people, she wasn't a comforter.

Logan opened his eyes and they remained unfocused as he continued, "I was in fifth grade last time. In my first couple years at PCA, up until that time, I had always gone home every few weekends since home isn't far away. One weekend when I was home in early spring and my mom was about four and a half months along we were all eating breakfast in the kitchen as usual. My dad was reading the paper as he ate, the sports section, and he kept reading things off to me and we were discussing it. The Lakers had lost and we were pissed. And my mom had gotten back up to make more waffles. She had already had like half a dozen, but she said she was still hungry. And she was on the other side of the kitchen island joking about how it would be nice if me and my dad cared about other things as much as we cared about the Lakers, and the next minute she was on the floor, out cold and bleeding. She had a miscarriage, it had happened a while before she collapsed and the tissue from it had gotten infected and the infection spread."

So far Logan had explained recounted everything managing to control his emotions completely. They were awful memories, but part of him had managed to convince himself that it was just a story and never actually happened. But he paused now because if he simply continued he thought he might lose that control over himself. A couple of beats of silence passed and he continued, "My mom was in the hospital for six weeks before they finally said she would survive, that all of the infection was gone. Me and dad kind of lived there for those six weeks, watching her almost die and praying for her to be okay. My dad always went off to talk to the doctor by himself though, I could always tell whether or not he had gotten good news or bad news, but he didn't want me to hear any of it. I heard a lot of it though. I heard the doctor tell both my parents once my mom was stable again that future pregnancies for her would be extremely risky and could end her up in the same position she had been for those six weeks only next time she may not survive. I think my dad knew that I was overhearing stuff though because as soon as my mom had been better for a day and I had gotten to see her for that day, he sent me back to school. He told Chase and Michael what happened because he wanted them to keep an eye on me, but they're the only ones that know." He was going to add that she couldn't tell anyone about it, but somehow that didn't feel right, not with her, it didn't need to be said.

Dana didn't know what to say or do. She sucked at this. He was all honest and revealing about a really bad memory, clearly scared that history would repeat itself, was she supposed to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay? That sounded really unappealing and completely not them. So, Dana didn't do or say anything.

Logan knew it was sort of obvious why he needed her to be his girlfriend for now, but since she hadn't come out and agreed in the half a minute of silence, he turned to her and said, "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend because it will make my mom happy. And I can't let her know the truth because I don't want to upset her just in case that makes something go wrong. I don't want to see her almost die again and if there's anything I can do to prevent it, then I'm going to do it. And you only have to pretend to be my girlfriend for today and tomorrow morning, it's less than twenty-four hours, practically nothing."

"Okay," Dana said, cutting him off from continuing to plead any further, "I'll pretend to be your girlfriend." Logan instantly relaxed looking very relieved. Dana knew she said never, but then she didn't expect there ever to be circumstances like this either. How could she possibly not agree after everything that he said, everything that happened? She felt she was handling the situation rather well too. By the way Logan seemed to calm at her words, she figured she choose the right thing to say at the right time. But now she wasn't so sure if she was doing the right thing or butting in, but she decided to go for it pointing out, "If you really don't want to risk anything though you should go apologize to your mom. She was really upset when you left."

Logan smirked at her, seeming much more himself, and replied, "Just wait for it."

Dana quirked an eyebrow in confusion until he held up his hand and pointed at the door behind him and as soon as he did it there was a knock at the door followed by, "Logan?"

"Yeah, coming," Logan replied as he stood up and Dana did the same.

"That was freaky," she commented as she stepped toward the end of the far bed to get out of Logan's way as he exited the space between the beds. Logan nodded in agreement and didn't notice Dana stick her foot out in front of him.

Logan landed on the ground with a sudden thud. He noticed her foot under his leg and asked her as she laughed and he got up, "Why'd you do that?"

Dana calmed down from laughing at Logan and said with a smirk, "You may be apologizing to your mom for your ass like behavior, but you still needed to be punished for putting me in a very awkward situation down there."

Logan turned his back to her and rolled his eyes as he headed for the door. Knowing that awkwardness was probably going to be reoccurring throughout the day because it was his parents and him and Dana, he muttered, "It's going to be a painful day."

Logan opened his door to his mother whose eyes were just a tad bit red. He moved aside and let her in and Dana immediately headed for the open door, wanting to give them privacy. On her way out, Logan's mother said to Dana as she passed by her, "Don't stray too far dear, we were hoping you would both join us for lunch."

Dana glanced at Logan who gave a small nod, before she looked back to his mother and replied, "Of course Mrs. Reese, we'd love to." Dana didn't even notice the "we" in her reply.

"It's Abby, please," Logan's mother quickly insisted with a smile, glad that things were already getting better. She continued, "And my husband is Malcolm. Mister's and misses and last names are much too formal, plus they make us feel old."

"Okay, Abby it is then," Dana accepted with a polite smile and exited shutting the door behind her. She was going to go to her room, but then she didn't know how long this was going to take. Noon was just a few minutes away so she figured they'd probably want to have lunch soon. Thinking that it would be best if she was somewhere to catch them when they were ready for lunch, Dana decided to wait in the hallway.

Inside the room Logan immediately apologized to his mother for his reaction to the news. She told him that she understood it, but assured him that she would be fine. She had been seeing her doctor twice a week, just to be cautious, and she was already twelve weeks along, which was why she told him. Some old wise tale claimed it bad luck to announce a pregnancy prior to twelve weeks along so she waited and told him first. She told him she was going to take it easy for the rest of the pregnancy, as a precaution. The business trip she just came back from with his father would be her last, as of now she wouldn't be working. She hired a full time maid and cook so she'd have less to stress about and Malcolm was only going to be taking work nearby, so he would never be far. She was going to be fine, they were going to be fine; she believed and tried to get Logan to believe as well.

But then she said she's only a week and a half away from starting her second trimester and the risk factor of miscarrying greatly decreases then. He remembered though, everything exactly, and pointed out that she was past that point last time too. She told him firmly that in just over six months he would be meeting his new brother or sister and she would be the one introducing them. She seemed sure, but he could see it, the bit of doubt in her eyes, the bit of fear that she would be wrong. And he knew he had to believe that she'd be okay too, because she needed him to. So he replied that he'd be meeting his brother, because he wouldn't know what to do with a sister. She told him that she hoped it was a girl and why and why his father hoped it was another son, filling him in on the things he had missed due to the waiting to tell about the pregnancy.

Outside the room Dana managed to feel very awkward all by herself. It was just weird. Inside the room Logan was talking to his mother, apologizing, she was probably telling him everything would be okay because she was a mother and they do that. But she had never thought of Logan like that, known him like that. The only other time she heard him mention his mother was when he revealed that he was Jewish and that that came from her. He didn't talk about his family, almost never. She always just assumed it was because he was too self absorbed, but after the story and how close he seemed to be to them, she realized that that wasn't the reason. He really cared about his family and he didn't talk about them because he rarely talked about real things, about things he cared about.

_He talks about them with you, he told you_, a voice in her head said. She tried to push the voice away, to ignore it, but it was there, _He told you and he didn't even say not to tell anyone. He trusts you._ But that was ridiculous, why would Logan trust her? She had never given him a reason to trust her, had she? As she tried to come up with a time that she may have she couldn't even concentrate, the question screaming in her head, _Do you_ _trust him?_ The resounding _Yes! _came from a more honest, yet equally denied place than her head, but she told herself that the answer was no, because she didn't completely trust anyone.

The door to Logan's room opened, thankfully distracting her from her thoughts, and Logan and Abby exited, her radiant smile and happy glow having fully returned. Abby said Malcolm had been saying he was hungry since before they even arrived so they should go to lunch. She headed for the stairs and Dana noticed Logan hesitate at the elevators, his no stairs on vacation plan was clearly compromised and Dana struggled to suppress a laugh as he agitatedly started down the stairs.

Dana and Logan descended the stairs slower than his mother, Logan having taken the cue from Dana and expecting she had a reason to do so. She did, she asked him in a whisper, "How are we going to pull this off? We didn't come up with any history for our supposed 'relationship'?"

Logan shrugged, not concerned about it and replied, "I'm good at lying, you're good at lying, I'm sure we'll be fine." And Logan was right; they both were very practiced at lying and not only to other people.

Dana was still a bit nervous, but began to catch up with Abby, Logan following her lead once again, to avoid suspicion.

Malcolm was waiting at the entrance to the restaurant and as they spotted him Logan took Dana's hand and threaded their fingers together. From looking at her and her total lack of response to the action it seemed like she didn't even notice. But mentally she had been confused at first as she felt his hand take hers, and she had to remind herself she was supposed to be his girlfriend, it was part of the act.

They would both tell themselves they didn't notice it was a perfect fit.

The party of four was promptly led to a table. Malcolm pulled the chair out for his wife and sat next to her on one side of the table, Logan was across from him sitting next to Dana who was across from his mother. Abby noticed that Logan didn't pull out Dana's chair for her and she planned on having a word with him about it later. She knew that up until now he had always gone through girls as often as he changed his clothes, but briefness of a relationship was no reason not to act like a gentleman, she'd raised him better than that.

Staring at a menu was something to do, a distraction, a time when talking wasn't necessary or really welcome since everyone had the task of reading. But the waitress quickly popped up and took their orders since the restaurant was fairly empty for the moment and she didn't have anything else to do. As soon as the waitress left with their lunch orders everything quickly became very awkward.

Neither Logan nor Dana were willing to say anything, if they could get away without having to explain anything about their supposed relationship, that would be great.

Abby and Malcolm were so thrown by the fact that Logan was actually in a real relationship they didn't know where to start. Plus, Malcolm didn't want to start since he knew his wife was the one more excited by it. Personally, he wasn't really buying it. After all, Logan was basically him and at fifteen he had absolutely no desire for a real relationship. Knowing that his wife was probably just deciding which of her many questions to start with, Malcolm didn't even bother trying to come up with conversation. Though, the silence did seem to be stretching on.

The waitress came back with their drinks and just as she departed Abby finally said something, just having realized, "Dana! Right, _Dana_, Dana. I knew your name sounded familiar, but somehow it just wasn't clicking. So you're back from Paris then?"

Dana's mind froze for a second and her mouth hung slightly ajar. His mother knew she was in Paris? He talked about her? That didn't fit them. But here was a woman who thought she was her son's girlfriend and she needed to respond so ignored all thoughts of a-typicality and answered, "Yeah, I came back at the beginning of the year."

"How did you like Paris and your school?" Abby asked conversationally.

"Paris was nice, but the school was all girls so…not so great," Dana replied honestly.

Abby nodded and figured there wasn't any point to asking about the school she didn't like so she tried to come up with another topic. Using the little information she knew she asked, "Are you back living with Zoey and Nicole or…oh, they had Lola living with them, so are you in a quadruple now or with new people?"

So Logan seemed to tell his mom more than Dana expected. Then again, his relationship with his family had been surprising her all morning so she really should have seen that coming. Dana explained, "We were put in doubles this year actually and I got placed with Lola. Zoey and Nicole are across the hall from us and Quinn is just one door down from us."

"Oh, that reminds me, how are Chase and Zoey? Has he told her yet?" Abby asked, seeming genuinely and extremely interested.

"Nope," Logan answered simply.

But in response to the first question of Abby's, Dana elaborated, "Well, it's been a little rough for them recently. They had a pretty big fight. It involved some stuff from last year; a tekmate and a message, but basically it was about trust."

"Right, I remember that," Abby cut in. Noticing Dana's attempt to hide her confusion, she elaborated, "Well, I wasn't there, my mother had had surgery, nothing major, a chin lift actually, and I was staying with her. But I saw all the footage from the show, the stuff that wasn't aired included, and I heard lots of details from Malcolm's assistant, our butler, and Malcolm. And Logan finally decided to give me the full story over the summer after I spent months trying to get out of him what it had all been about."

"Why did it matter what it was about? In the end, they still weren't together," Logan said, defending his actions.

"It was important because, as Dana was saying, it apparently led to a fight," Abby retorted and looked to Dana to signal her to continue the story.

"Well, they made up after about a week. But a week without talking was a long time for them. They fought because something else had come up and Zoey had realized that she wasn't sure that she could trust Chase and really she was right, he has always been lying to her. But he's only been lying to her about the fact that he's in love with her. They're fine now though, despite the fact that he's still lying to her about that because he won't tell her," Dana said, trying to summarize the saga of Chase and Zoey, or as Nicole had secretly recently started calling them "Choey."

"Ah, I've been so out of the loop," Abby said with a pointed look to her son. Logan shrugged slightly and she continued to Dana, "He used to call me or actually talk to me when I called and I got to know about what was going on. But this semester he hasn't been telling me anything. He's seemed busy and I guess we finally know why." It might have sounded accusing if Abby didn't look so happy while she said it. Her resistance finally seemed to have completely crumbled and she asked practically bouncing out of her chair, and remarkably reminding Dana of Nicole, "So, exactly how long have you two been keeping each other occupied?"

Dana had no idea how to answer, but an idea quickly came to her. She turned to Logan and said, "That's a good question. How long have we been together Logan? And it'd be good if you'd actually get it right this time." Dana smirked at his glare to her. This was a definite plus of pretending to be his girlfriend, it was so easy to make him suffer and to do it without any suspicion.

Logan thought for a second, didn't take his eyes off of Dana and responded, "Three months, since the election."

Since the beginning of their no strings attached relationship, _not a bad move_ she thought. But had it really been three months? It had been, and that seemed…significant, but she looked away from Logan and back to Abby, trying not to think about it.

Logan had gone with it because if he said something like a week he knew it would seem odd because who would invite a girl to go away after only a week and what girl would agree to go? But it was true, three months ago they started something, something that was nothing, but something that hadn't been there before. Wait, nothings couldn't be something's and they were nothing...so? Logan was confusing himself so he turned back to his father just after Dana turned away from him. He awaited more questions because he was sure they'd be coming.

"What election?" Malcolm surprisingly managed to ask before his wife.

"For sophomore class president," Logan replied, not understanding that it wasn't a complete answer.

Abby's brows furrowed in confusion and she asked, "That was going on when you two got together? Wait-better question- how did you two get together?"

Abby was smiling like she was watching her favorite romantic movie and everything was coming together perfectly and Dana felt extremely pressured. How were they ever going to come up with something to make her believe that there was a them?

Dana could see Logan smirk through her peripheral vision and she knew he had probably thought of something to say to get back at her for her putting all the pressure on him. She jumped in before he could say anything, "Our class president resigned at the beginning of the year and Logan and I both ended up nominated somehow. And we really tried to beat each other because I'd never want to lose to him, but he did win and then-"

"Then she threw herself at me," Logan jumped in.

"I did not," Dana immediately, fervently denied, "you're the one that kissed me. And completely out of nowhere too. One minute I'm calling you some kind of name and for some reason you seemed to decide that was a good time to make a move."

"I was just trying to get you to shut up because you certainly never do that without assistance," Logan promptly defended.

"Like you ever shut up on your own. You love the sound of your own voice so much I wouldn't be surprised if you listen to your outgoing voicemail message on a regular basis," Dana retorted, her complete attention on Logan.

"What I do on my own time is completely off the point that you were the one who threw yourself at me."

"You're the one that came back after I called it off."

"Yeah, but I was only back for that one time. You're the one that said 'let's continue.'"

"You're the one that kissed me while Shane was visiting."

Dana and Logan had been accusing each other oblivious to the fact that his parents were right there, watching with fascination.

Abby cut in, "Who's Shane?"

"He was my boyfriend," Dana replied offhandedly as Logan opened his mouth to retort, but the comeback died on his lips, realizing for the first time in minutes that his parents were there and they were supposed to be acting like a couple.

Dana also seemed to realize that they weren't alone and that this wasn't a conversation that they should be having. Actually arguing about what they had made it seem so…real. But it wasn't, couldn't be, real. To the Reese's flummoxed expressions Dana explained, "It's sort of a long story, but he had been broken up with right before we started dating again last summer and I was the one who ended it when we dated a couple of years ago and I didn't want to do that to him again. I thought that when I was away at school he'd lose interest and meet someone else and he could be the one to end it, but instead he came to visit."

"Did Logan fight for you?" Abby asked with such hope that Dana knew she couldn't let her down.

Logan, whose attention had returned to his parents, glanced at Dana silently begging her to say yes. He was begging, but he wasn't worried, which was weird so he begged. He knew that she was going to do everything she could to make his mom happy. But in the brief moment he actually realized that he wasn't worried for her answer at all, he realized that he was worried because he trusted her, a lot, and that wasn't supposed to happen. So as he looked at her he plead with his eyes for her to say yes because she wasn't supposed to be someone that he trusted.

"He made quite a spectacle," Dana replied, looking at a now relieved Logan and with a small smile playing on her lips. Not wanting to actually like the moment from the past for it made everything mean far too much, Dana added, "Actually, you broke one of my rules. I had forgotten about that, but now-"

"No, that doesn't count," Logan quickly jumped in, "It happened too long ago and why do you get to have all these rules anyway? You have like a hundred of them and I have none so now I get a rule, which is that if you don't immediately act on one of yours being broken then you can't have consequences later."

Once again getting caught in a conversation with Logan and completely forgetting his parent's presence or that they were supposed to be acting like a couple, Dana responded, "I guess that's reasonable. But I'm the one with all the rules because you're the one that needs to be kept in line."

Logan chuckled as he said, "I'm the one who has a behavior problem? Yeah right. You're the one that owns a T-shirt that says, 'my lips hurt real bad.'"

"You would know what all of my T-shirts say, huh perv?" Dana returned.

"Well I can't help but stare when you wear a children's small T-shirt and the words on it are stretched to the point of almost being illegible, it takes forever to read," Logan volleyed.

Logan's comment earned him a punch to his shoulder as Dana noticed Logan's parents and apologized feeling suddenly sheepish, "Sorry."

"Thank you," Logan replied thinking the apology was for him.

Dana's head quickly snapped back to Logan and she set him straight and tried to keep herself from getting angrier, "I wasn't apologizing to you, you deserved to get hit. I was apologizing to your parents for _our _behavior."

"Oh," Logan responded quietly and finally looking to his parents across the table from them. His dad seemed amused and his mom seemed confused, but at least they weren't mad.

"Don't worry about it," Malcolm began, "you two remind me of us actually." He grabbed his wife's hand brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.

"They do not," Abby said with a warm smile to her currently sweet husband, "They actually listen to each other, which took us three years of marriage to start doing."

"What are you talking about? You guys don't fight," Logan said, not understanding what his parents were saying.

Abby turned her attention back to her son and his girlfriend and explained, "If you think that's fighting then you haven't fought. That was just a type of banter, the way it sounds when passionate people who care about each other talk."

_People who care about each other_, the phrase repeated in both Logan and Dana's thoughts.

Luckily, Abby tore them from their thoughts getting back to her many questions for them and asking, "So, Dana, I don't remember if my son said where you're from, so, where's home?"

"Ohio," Dana promptly responded, "I'm from a pretty small town called Westerville that's not far from Columbus."

"Ah, so you're not native to the area either. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and when I came to college down here I found the environment to be quite a change. I imagine PCA and Malibu must be quite different from Ohio as well," Abby mentioned trying to relate and to keep from lulls in the conversation.

"Yeah, actually the first time I heard someone down here say that they were going to Big Bear I thought they meant the grocery store. Big Bear used to be a chain of grocery stores in Ohio and I didn't understand why the guy said he'd be spending the weekend there until I found out it was a town here," Dana responded politely.

Logan-not being polite-laughed. "Wait so first, you're from a town called _Westerville_?" he asked incredulously through a chuckle.

Logan was about to continue and ask something else, but keeping up appearances Dana jumped in and commented with a slight glare, "Are you asking that as if you haven't heard it before? Because if you are you should stop talking about it now before it becomes clear that you haven't listened to me anytime I've talked about my hometown."

They didn't talk, ever, so Logan easily figured this was part of the act. Though, it was a part he was getting a bit tired of. Why did he have to come off so uncaring? Well, he didn't really care about her and that was probably the reason, but he was supposed to be playing the role of the good boyfriend for his mom's sake so he replied using everything he knew and guessing just a little, "Of course I forgot where you're from, you never mention it. And bringing up your home or your parents you said was off limits because it would just put you in a bad mood. The only thing I'm allowed to ask you about is Noah, since he's the only one in your family you actually like."

Dana was dumbstruck. Logan was right. _Logan_ was _right_. She imagined that she officially knew what it was like to be in the _Twighlight Zone_. Talking about her parents or about home really would put her in a bad mood and Noah, her brother, was the only thing she actually missed when she was away. She wouldn't be surprised if Zoey, or Chase, or Nicole, or really any of her friends knew everything Logan said because she did talk about it, but Logan never listened to anyone but himself, so it really didn't make sense that he knew. She couldn't think about that now though, or later either because it completely defied any logic she was willing to believe in. She responded, "True, but you're making it sound like I hate my parents and my home and I don't." Dana assured his parents again and explained, "I don't hate my parents, but we don't really get along. They just have a very different idea about what my life should be and it doesn't really include anything I want."

Eek, definitely the wrong path. Logan should have just let himself sound like a jerk because this was too real, too honest. But they were in it now; it was too late now, so he did what he had to. He grabbed her hand, stroked his thumb over the back of it soothingly, and said, "Maybe you should just tell them now."

"Oh, no," Abby immediately jumped in, "Your home life is your business; you don't have to tell us anything."

Dana shook her head, ignored the fact that she was finding his touch so soothing, and responded, "No, you might as well know now. My dad is a real estate agent and also a deacon with our church, our Catholic church. My mom's a fourth grade teacher at a Catholic school. They're extremely devote and really old fashioned. They don't think I should date and that's why they initially sent me away, because I had my first boyfriend. They don't want me to dress like my friends or other girls my age, they'd prefer loose long dresses of floral pastels or baggy button up shirts with every button buttoned. They don't think most careers are appropriate for women. My dad hasn't talked to my aunt since she became a traveling journalist because he said her words aren't important enough for people to read mostly because they're coming from a woman who dares to travel the world alone, without a man by her side. Oh, and that part of wedding vows where the woman agrees to obey the man, yeah, they believe in that too and think that the children should unquestioningly always obey their parents. And my older brother came out of the closet about three years ago, but he's never told our parents because he knows the second he does he'll be disowned and he'll never see them again. We don't agree with our parents, but they're our only parents. So my brother keeps his mouth shut and I stopped fighting, I just hide most of who I am to them now."

Logan brought her hand that he was still holding and kissed it lightly and caught her gaze for the first time since she had started talking because she had been talking to his parents. God, she seemed so vulnerable, so not Dana. He couldn't believe that a conversation he started had lead there, that he did this to her. He knew things between her and her parents couldn't be good, but damn, he really felt like an ass now for bringing them up.

She turned her head when she felt her hand being moved and caught his eyes just as she felt his lips softly caress her skin. She let out a silent sigh and felt her heavy heart beat a little bit faster. There was a clenching in her stomach, but she told herself that it was because she hated talking about her parents. She didn't blame Logan though, he didn't know, he couldn't have known since she didn't really talk about it with anyone. She was talking to her "boyfriend's" parents though so she knew hers would eventually come up. She had no idea why she didn't just lie about them though. The truth was….the truth was talking about them always flooded her mind with a lot of bad memories and she didn't know why she had been honest when she knew the crappy feeling results. Logan actually made her feel better though, even if holding and kissing her hand was only because he was playing the role of good boyfriend. She found it kind of weirdly amusing that he was so unabashedly sweet when he was just pretending. And that's how she ended up smiling at him.

Logan reciprocated the smile, but before he could even realize that he was doing so Abby, though reluctant to interrupt her son and his girlfriend when they were being so adorable, did interrupt. She cleared her throat a little just to get their attention and asked with their eyes back to her, "I'm guessing your parents don't know you're here then, since it doesn't sound like they'd approve."

"No," Dana responded, honestly again, "They think I'm at a friend's house for New Year's." Abby shared a look of…regret or something like it with Malcolm and Dana hurriedly added, "I couldn't stay there though. The longer I spend there the more likely it is that I get into an argument with them and then they end up taking some drastic action like an all girl's school in Paris."

Noticing that his parents didn't seem to happy about how Dana had managed to be there he said trying to sound as if he wasn't that concerned, "It's not like it's a big deal."

Abby's gaze left her husband's for her son's as she responded, "You know it is Logan. It's like a parent's code that you're not supposed to help hide people's kids from them." She addressed both of them and said genuinely, "I'm sorry."

Logan was suddenly terrified. He would tell himself later that it was because if Dana got sent back to her parents the next opportunity she got she would kill him. But for the moment he just sat there clenching the arm of the chair so hard that his fingers were turning white and desperately trying to think of something to say without sounding like he was pleading.

Dana was likewise terrified. If her parents found out where she really was, who she was really with, she had no idea what'd they do next, where she'd get sent. One thing was for sure if they found out, she wouldn't be back at PCA tomorrow, they'd never let her come back. She'd never see…anyone again.

"It's less than a day until we're back at school, can't you just forget about it?" Logan asked, hoping he didn't sound like he was begging because he wasn't really playing "boyfriend" right now.

Abby glanced to her husband again and he gave a small nod so she said, "Fine, we won't tell your parents, but from now on they should at least know where you're at so they can find you if for any reason they ever need to."

"They don't have to know who I'm with then?" Dana asked hopefully.

"As long as you tell them as soon as you're allowed to date, I guess not," Abby conceded with a smile because after all, she did want her son to be happy and he had stopped gripping his chair to death and had actually been smiling since she said that Dana's parents wouldn't be contacted.

"Thank you," Dana responded sincerely. She really only needed Abby to give in this one time since there wouldn't be future ones for their very pretend relationship, but Abby wasn't supposed to know that so she was supposed to be concerned about the future. Plus, what Abby didn't know was that she wasn't supposed to be dating until she was eighteen and even then it could only be very little and Catholic guys with her parent's approval if they were going to pay her college tuition and there was no way even if her and Logan were real that they were going to last that long.

The food finally arrived; the restaurant had gotten quite busy so the wait was understandable, but unfortunate given the topics and lies that had been covered.

As soon as their waitress who brought the food left, Malcolm said seriously, "Well, since we're going to be the only parents who know about your relationship I think we're all going to have to have a serious talk, especially since you two spent the last two nights here alone doing God knows what."

Logan's sandwich he was about to take a bite of slipped from his hand and he was left sitting there stunned with his mouth hanging open. Seriously?! He couldn't believe his father would do this to him.

Dana stopped picking the onions off her burger, her thoughts mirroring Logan's. We're they really about to get "the talk"?

Abby had been looking at her husband curiously until he suddenly started laughing, then she hit him lightly on the shoulder for the cruel joke.

Logan and Dana were both too relieved to be really mad.

Once Malcolm calmed down from his fit of laughter he managed to get out with the smile still on his face and laughter still in his voice, "You should have seen your face son."

"That was a very mean joke dad," Logan said with only a twinge of hostility as he picked up his sandwich again.

"Come on, lighten up, you know we trust you," Malcolm said as he took a bite of his Caesar salad. The doctor told him he had high cholesterol at his last visit and now his wife was making him eat healthy, but it was only slightly high so sometimes he bartered his way into eating a fat filled meal, it just didn't happen today. At least not yet; he liked to be hopeful.

Dana was baffled as she ate her burger. His parent's actually _trusted_ him; must be nice. Her parents were probably calling her cell right now, or had left three messages. She had turned it on silent while she was waiting in the hallway and wasn't too eager to check it any time soon.

Everything was fairly quiet except for the hum of the crowd in the restaurant for about fifteen minutes while everyone ate their food in a comfortable silence, with occasional comments on the food. Once they were all pretty much done eating Abby took the lead on the conversation again as she reached for her purse that was on the floor in between her chair and her husbands to her right. She commented with her warm smile, "I really wish you would have told us you were bringing Dana, Logan. If I had known I would have brought the albums."

"Good thing I didn't then," Logan responded relieved.

"We'll just have to settle for these," Abby said as she pulled out a photo insert that folded out to appear to have twenty wallet sized photos of it almost entirely of Logan, with the exception of one, which was a family photo.

"Mom," Logan huffed agitatedly.

"Calm down superman, they're harmless, no naked bathtub shots I promise," Abby swore as she spread the pictures out across the table for Dana to look at.

"Superman?" Dana questioned with a mockingly quirked eyebrow to Logan, but her eyes eagerly returned to the photos. Pretending to be his girlfriend was going to get her _so _much blackmail material and fodder for insults.

Abby nodded and explained as she pointed to a picture where a toddler Logan had a sheet tied around his neck like a cape, "Since he was three and his father let him watch the Superman movies Logan was convinced he could fly for about two and a half years. He would jump off of everything because he thought if he found the right thing it would result in him flying. He kept us on our toes those years…and in emergency rooms."

"Three broken bones," Logan told Dana with a smirk. He leaned over conspiratorially and announced in mock dramatics, "They even put me on a leash."

Abby gasped and retorted, "How else were we supposed to keep a hold of you? You kept running off and it was getting very dangerous."

"As for the leash, I think you still need one," Dana commented and her eyebrow was on it's way to arching up until she realized the possible way what she said could have been taken, which she realized because of Logan's smarmy smirk. "I did not mean it like _that_," Dana quickly amended as an embarrassed blush rose on her cheeks.

Logan continued to smirk as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and said as he pulled her to him, "You don't have to lie to us. We all know that you want me."

"In your dreams," Dana promptly responded with a playful smirk of her own.

"Every night," Logan swore with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. "And now it will be every night of me, you, and the leash," he added daringly and with a wink on the last word.

Dana struggled to keep a straight face and bit her lower lip for a second before responding so she wouldn't laugh, "I can't believe you talk like that in front of your parents. And here I thought your perverse remarks were only something you said when you were talking to me, or our friends, or total strangers."

"I just tell the truth," Logan said cockily with a shrug of his shoulders and wearing a smile that his smirk had long since morphed into.

"Truth?" Dana questioned, "I was thinking of a certain four letter word for it."

"I can't believe you talk like that in front of my parents," Logan accused jokingly echoing her earlier phrase.

Dana shrugged, mimicking his earlier nonchalant move, and responded, "You know if you wanted a nice girl, you should have brought someone else."

"Yeah, but nice girls aren't into leashes," Logan said with another waggle of his eyebrows at her.

This time Dana couldn't resist, she dissolved into a fit of laughter. Logan joined her laughing, but not because he was amused by his own words as Dana was, but because she was laughing and laughing with her just seemed to be…irresistible. Plus, there was the fact that _he_ made her laugh, which wouldn't be something he'd soon forget.

Abby and Malcolm had watched the whole exchange amusedly, but were interrupted from thoughts on it-other than Abby thinking that they were adorable-by the waitress finally dropping off the check. Malcolm promptly paid and left a generous tip.

Since lunch was officially over and they now had the afternoon to think of, Abby organized activities. She folded her wallet picture insert back up as she said, "Well I can't go skiing this year; the doctor doesn't think it'd be a good idea. But I'm going to spend the afternoon over at the spa and I was wondering if you'd like to join me Dana? Leave the skiing to the boys and have a girls afternoon, my treat?"

"Sure, I'd love to," Dana immediately responded, because hell yes she'd love a free afternoon at a spa-emphasis on the _free_, which was always a perk. Though, now that she paused to think about it she had never been into letting strangers touch her, just like she didn't _do_ hugs usually. She could hopefully make an exception to her pet peeve though for a massage, a free professional massage especially.

Logan's hands shot up in front of him as if in a halting motion as he said, "Whoa whoa, whoa. I don't think I like this idea."

Abby gasped as her hand flew to her chest in mock dramatics and she feigned offence. "I can't believe you think I'd ever do anything to embarrass you Logi," Abby said as innocently as she could muster when she knew it wasn't going to be true because she wasn't infallible.

"Mom, I wasn't really worried about you," Logan said and pointedly looked to Dana.

"Me?!" Dana asked with a pretty convincing innocent smile. But the smile turned into a smirk as she responded, "Yeah, you should be worried."

And really Logan should have been worried because Dana could completely screw him over so badly, but he was completely acting and wasn't worried at all. Dana had been great as his pretend girlfriend so far. Hell, she was even fantastic and he had the very strong urge to kiss her for it every five seconds or every smile she sent his way, but it was just pretend and even if it wasn't he wasn't going to maul a girl in front of his parents, they really wouldn't appreciate it.

Logan's mock worry was interrupted when Abby suddenly announced with a groan, "Ugh, I have to pee again." She stood up and Malcolm rose at the same time. She picked up her purse and said to the still sitting Dana and Logan, "I'm going to go to the restroom and then we can head to the spa and let these boys get to the mountain so they can get in some skiing before the two of you join us for dinner."

It was more of an order than an invitation, but both Logan and Dana were expecting it because they were his parents after all.

"Sure," Dana agreed before Abby rushed off to the bathroom.

Dana and Logan stood and straggled behind as they followed Malcolm out to the lobby. Logan had his hand on the small of her back guiding her though the restaurant, but fully wrapped his arm around her so that his hand was resting on her hip when his father glanced back at them.

"I've got to make a phone call. Don't tell your mom I'm doing business on vacation," Malcolm slightly shouted at the distant teens over his shoulder as he headed for the pay phones since his cell didn't have very reliable service up in the mountains.

Dana turned to face Logan and as she did his hand slid from its place around her on one side of her hip across her back and to rest on the opposite hip. He grabbed the other side of her hip to pull her to him a bit more despite the fact that she was already less than a couple of inches away from him.

"You ate my onions?" Dana questioned upon catching a very unfortunate whiff of his breath and as her hands came to rest on his arms that were so securely wrapped around her.

Logan nodded as he replied looking down at her, "Yeah and why can you eat them when they're in that disgusting quesadilla thing and in the salsa you smothered it in, but on your burger you picked off every last tiny piece?"

Dana ignored his amused smile just like she was ignoring her own. She stopped noticing the onion-y smell to his breath when he spoke and she realized that he was close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her lips. Ignoring the tingling now present in her lips Dana responded, "The burger had red onions, everything else had white onions. I don't like red onions."

"That's crazy. Red onions are so much better than any other type of onion," Logan declared mostly because it was the opposite of what she said and opposing her was a natural instinct.

"Whatever superman," Dana said with a smirk or at least an intended smirk; she somehow ended up smiling again-still.

Logan groaned in frustration and tried to seem angry, because really, he should have been angry that Dana-or anyone-found out about his parent's former and embarrassing nickname for him. But he was still looking down at her in his arms, she was still smiling, and the corners of his mouth just wouldn't turn down to match the attitude he should have had. He managed to get the words right though even if he couldn't physically when he questioned with agitation clear in his voice, "You're going to tell everyone aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Dana promised, "and nothing you say or do could ever make pass up an opportunity to publicly humiliate you."

Logan sighed in acceptance of the fate he was now going to face. He slumped forward a bit, his forehead leaning against hers. "The feeling's mutual," he said in that husky voice he always got right before he kissed her.

She smiled at the Logan-ness, the them-ness, of his response and let her eyes drift closed in anticipation of what she was sure was about to come.

Or at least a kiss would have been the natural course had they not actually been in the lobby of a hotel on a vacation with his parents. Because if they were almost anywhere else they wouldn't have been interrupted, but they were there at a ski resort with his parents so they were interrupted.

Interruption came in the form of Abby returning from the bathroom and noticing Malcolm on the phone. "You promised no business Malcolm," Abby reminded and the sound of her voice in the same room caused Logan and Dana to spring apart. Dana slid back from Logan's grasp quickly, but he caught her hands in his so she couldn't get too far. Neither of their moves intentional, but instinctual; hers not to get caught doing anything real by any parents, his not to let her go.

They were distracted from their natural acts by Malcolm's response to Abby. As he quickly hung up the pay phone he defended, "I wasn't doing business, I was just double checking our dinner reservation."

"Uh huh," Abby responded doubtfully. Her back had been to Logan and Dana, but she turned her head and yelled over to them, "Ready, Dana?"

"Yeah," Dana promptly replied looking to her right at Abby and Malcolm by the phones, still not noticing that Logan was holding her hands. She leaned into him smirking and whispered, "I am going to enjoy this _so_ much."

Logan knew she was referring to probably not only taking pleasure out of lying to his mother to embarrass him, but also she was really going to enjoy anything his mom happened to let slip that would be embarrassing for him when Dana inevitably told everyone else. And none of that surprised him. If the situation was reversed he would definitely enjoy being in her position. What did surprise him was that right after she said that she kissed his cheek quickly and ran off to join his mom heading out of the lobby.

Logan stood in the lobby stupidly for a second before his father calling his name slightly snapped him out of his stupor. He managed to follow his dad out to the shuttle without incident despite the fact that his mind was in a haze. She kissed him…on the cheek. It was affectionate and odd. Logically he knew that it was a great detail for their whole act and he was lucky that she was smart enough to think of it. But still, he was plagued with the thought that it was…nice. And that was a thought he really didn't want to have.

Dana thought that the kiss was pretty smart of her considering the fact that his parents were in the room and they were supposed to be a couple. She wasn't even thinking about the fact that she didn't plan or think about it before she actually did it.

Dana was distracted from her self convincing by Abby pulling her from her thoughts when she said trying to make conversation, "I'm sorry I tore you away from skiing…or snowboarding."

"It's okay," Dana assured, "I fell down enough yesterday to last me awhile so I'm not in much of a hurry to get back out there."

"You've never been skiing before?" Abby asked curiously as they entered the spa and waited in front of the front desk, which currently had someone at it who was talking to the worker there.

"I've been skiing before, but not snowboarding, which I attempted yesterday," Dana replied as the woman who was talking to the person at the front desk left and they moved up. Abby looked over some kind of list of packages they offered and picked one out for them and paid as Dana began to feel awkward again. This "vacation" was turning into so much work, she had to put on an act all freaking day. Although, she hadn't actually been lying much so far, it hadn't really been necessary, but noticing that would mean she'd wonder about why that was and that wasn't something she was willing to let herself do.

"This way please," the woman behind the desk said as she walled from her place to the doorway in the back left corner of the reception area.

After changing into a towel/robe thing which she was given in her changing room Dana found herself with her face in the hole of a massage table that was located in a room with one other table, which Abby was on. She knew it probably wasn't likely given that Abby had asked her to have a "girls afternoon," but she was hoping that all spa activities would be separate and she wouldn't have to answer any more questions.

But she was here, with Logan's mom, and they had only been on their separate tables receiving their massages for one minute before Abby asked, "So, snowboarding didn't go well? Logan's been doing it for a few years, I thought he'd be better at teaching it."

"Oh, Logan didn't attempt to teach me," Dana replied and realized how it sounded only after it had been said. She attempted to explain why her "boyfriend" wouldn't help her learn how to snowboard when he was perfectly capable, "If Logan had tired to teach me he would have been mad about spend the whole day trying to get me to be able to balance on the board while he didn't do any boarding himself and I wouldn't have wanted to listen to him in the first place, so we figured we'd avoid the inevitable fight of that situation and he paid for lessons for me while he went off snowboarding by himself."

"Who was your instructor?" asked the apparently nosy woman who was giving Dana her massage. The twenty something voluptuous red-head didn't seem to even notice that she had just invited herself into a conversation between two guests. The other masseuse, an ash brown haired prim looking woman of about the same age, wore a scowl as she continued to massage Abby; she clearly didn't approve of her co-worker's actions.

"Lage," Dana responded.

"Lucky. McYummy is the name I think is more appropriate for a guy that has a Swedish accent and the body of a Greek god," the overly chatty masseuse gushed.

Attempting to get back in control of the conversation, Abby asked, "How did you spending the day with a good looking man go over with Logan?"

Dana flushed at the memory. They may have been lying in the snow, but the situation couldn't have been described as remotely cold. To avoid giving away any details since she was talking to Logan's mother, Dana responded, "By the time the lesson was half over Logan had come up with a way to keep me with him for the rest of the day."

"Oh, yesterday?" asked the nosy young girl currently massaging Dana's lower back. She didn't wait for a response from Dana before she continued, "You and your boyfriend were the ones in the snow, so hot and heavy you were practically melting it. Oh, Lage was going on and on about you guys yesterday when we were primping for a party last night. I mean, he's hot, so he gets the jealous guys a lot, although the guys only have to worry if they've left Lage with their boyfriends, but he kept saying how adorable his couple yesterday was and how into each other they seemed. It's a new relationship isn't it? How long have you been together?"

Jesus. This girl certainly didn't know when to shut the hell up. Not only had she not picked up on the fact that the woman Dana was there with was in fact said "boyfriend's" mother and therefore wouldn't want to hear about how "hot and heavy" they were as the girl had so eloquently put it. But more important, the girl didn't seem to notice her fellow masseuse's scowl at the fact that she was budding into customer's conversations.

"Three months," Dana responded politely. Normally she would have said something generally mean spirited and verging on whole heartedly bitchy, but Logan's mom didn't need to learn about her dark side when it could be avoided.

Being very nice herself, Abby gave up and include the masseuse in the conversation by asking, "Is Lage single?"

"Yeah, surprisingly, and if I was a gay man that so wouldn't be true," the masseuse responded animatedly.

"Well, Dana, is your brother single? Maybe he can come with us our next trip here and you can introduce him to this apparently gorgeous, great-catch of a man," Abby suggested very hopefully. She knew her son was in high school and that high school relationships tended not to last- hers definitely didn't. But she also believed that her son would not be in a relationship and let her met a girl unless it was something very serious, even if neither of them knew that yet.

In her head Dana freaked out for a second. Next trip? Logan's mother was certainly planning ahead. And she was so nice, much more pleasant to hang out with than her own mother had ever been, but eventually she was going to have to let the very genuine woman down and that was really going to suck. But getting back to the present pretending and since honesty happened to work at this moment, she responded, "Actually Noah is taken. My parents think that the guy, Chris, is just my brother's best friend, but him and my brother have been together for almost four years now. If it was legal they'd probably get married."

Out of curiosity, Abby asked, "How much older is your brother than you?"

"Four years; he's nine-teen," Dana responded easily.

"You're only 15?!" the younger masseuse blurted out and once again continued before Dana could respond, "This must be like, one serious relationship to already be vacationing with your boyfriend's parents."

Abby had already had her head turned toward Dana as she laid on the table, but at this statement she seemed particularly interested to see how Dana responded as her eyebrows lifted slightly.

Crap. Dana could either give the nice lady more hope by saying it was serious or say it wasn't and start to disappoint her now.

While Dana internally struggled with how to respond, Abby guessed, "Logan didn't think we'd show up did he?" Dana shook her head and Abby continued, "So, you neither one of you thought that you'd be meeting us?"

"Nope," Dana answered honestly. She elaborated, "Logan said he was asking me to go because he would be alone here without me. And I hesitated to agree because…it's only been three months, you know? It's just kind of a big deal." If responding honestly Dana wanted to say that she hesitated to agree because they were nothing, but she continued with the real reason she agreed, "But, as you know now, home isn't that pleasant and the longer I stay there the greater the chance that I'll do something to get me in some kind of trouble with my parents. So, leaving early and taking a chance by coming here with Logan was actually the smarter choice."

Abby's face softened and the masseuse finally seemed to figure out that her place was not in the conversation. Abby asked sincerely worried, "What will happen when your parents find out that you're not the person they want you to be?"

"They'll be out of my life…and not by my choice, but by theirs," Dana responded with a sad honesty to her voice. "I know it will happen eventually," Dana said regretfully, "and I don't agree with how they think I should behave and that all the choices I should make with my life are the only choices that could result in me being a good person, but I've always known that I'm not what they want and when they learn that that's permanent I'll only have Noah as my family." That all sounded rather bleak, but it had been Dana's dark truth for quite some time and it was difficult to admit, but if she was going to let the woman down eventually, she figured Abby deserved something real. She attempted to lighten the mood by adding, "But Noah and Chris throw fantastic parties so at least spending the holidays with them should be fun."

Dana had turned away from Abby, instead looking straight ahead as she had spoken. Abby reached across the foot and a half in between the tables and touched Dana's arm to get her attention and as soon as she had it she said very earnestly, "Your parents are missing out on a really great girl."

"You don't even know me," Dana somehow managed to say even though she was truly stunned by how compassionate Abby was. It wasn't that she didn't think that Logan could have a mom like her, she had never thought of anything like that at all, but just that someone as nice as her could exist, she found it surprising. There were so few people she was real with because there were so few people that she saw as real and genuine and deserving of her honesty. Abby had very quickly become one of those few people and though she was mostly returning that honesty, the more time she spent with Abby the more she began to regret the massive lie she was leading the woman to believe.

"I know enough to know I'd be missing out if I was them," Abby assured.

Dana didn't want to blow off the heartfelt moment, but she didn't want to linger on it either because a lack of them throughout her life made them feel just slightly uncomfortable. She said sincerely grateful, "Thank you." She was going to continue to avoid it getting awkward, but somehow the atmosphere between them just didn't ever become unpleasant.

As they finished their massages they continued to talk. They covered some much lighter topics than Dana's parents. For instance, Dana now knew a story about Logan's potty training days that she was really going to enjoy embarrassing him with sometime later.

They were in the midst of getting facials, some sort of pasty like masks on, and lounging in chairs that were side by side a foot and a half apart and reminiscent of dentist chairs when in a tiny lull in the conversation Abby rubbed her abdomen a bit and grimaced slightly.

"Are you alright?" Dana immediately asked, especially concerned after the story Logan told her about Abby's last pregnancy.

"I'm fine," Abby replied and managed a small reassuring smile.

While the non-grimacing, but smiling slightly expression was reassuring, Dana checked, "Are you sure? Because I'm sure I can get someone to call a doctor or an ambulance or if you want to just blow this off and lay down or something its fine."

Dana was rambling and Abby realized that some earlier suspicions she had had when she saw Dana in Logan's room after the announcement were confirmed. "I am perfectly okay," Abby reiterated. She continued asking the question she was sure she now knew the answer to, "Logan told you, didn't he?" Dana understood what Abby was asking and nodded figuring that this was other time where lying wasn't the right path. "I figured," Abby admitted, "But he…Logan doesn't talk about it…ever. I was worried about how he'd handle the news and I knew he'd eventually be okay with it for my sake, but I'm glad you're here. He's…different with you. Well, I mean, he hasn't really let us met any other girls because, as I'm sure you know, they never were around very long, but from what I would always see he was never himself with them. I mean with me and his dad he's this really great person, a great son, but with girls he was cocky and…well his dad when I met him so basically only interested in one thing. With you though, he's been real, and honest, and apparently very trusting since he told you about what happened a few years ago. When we first saw you two, Malcolm thought that there was no way you were anything to Logan more than any other girl, but he's _so_ different with you. I have a feeling he won't be letting you go for a very long time."

_He's pretending to be real for his mom's sake_, Dana told herself in her head repeatedly the entire time Abby was talking. She really hoped that she didn't look freaked out because Abby was looking at her and looking for some kind of sign of how this was effecting her and as a "girlfriend" she should be happy to know that she was special. But as herself, as a girl who fiercely believed that she had nothing with Logan, she was busy reassuring herself with her mantra that it was just an act and that none of it was real, and she didn't know if "happy" was really what she was conveying.

Abby could tell Dana was trying to seem happy, but she was radiating fear like a small woodland creature that suddenly found itself in the presence of a bear. Abby voiced her reasoning for it though, "I guess it's scary though. Being so young, it being a newer relationship that sounds like it was unpredictable based on your last school year together, and it being so serious."

Abby had given Dana an out for her not being able to keep up the pretenses, so she took it. She replied, "Yeah, two years ago I would have bet my life on this never happening so it's definitely…terrifying." Dana thought that she had responded to Abby the way she did because she needed to keep up the act she had momentarily dropped (something she would later tell herself she had done out of surprise), but she would learn eventually that she meant what she said.

Changing topics Dana decided to ask something she had been wondering about ever since Logan had told her about what happened to his mother before. Expanding on their current conversation she asked, "Aren't you scared too though? I mean, it seems like you're taking a really big risk while you could just adopt." At a hesitant look from Abby, Dana added, "If you don't mind me asking. I don't mean to pry or anything."

"No, no, it's fine," Abby interrupted. She sighed and continued, "After my miscarriage, based on what the doctor said, I really didn't think that I could get pregnant again. I've always wanted a big family and enough time had finally passed and I was…not getting over, but adjusting to the loss better lately, which I wasn't really dealing well at first, and so we had been looking at different adoption agencies. But I consider this baby to be a miracle and my doctor confirmed it when I went in, he said I had only a fifteen percent chance of ever getting pregnant again and I overcame the odds and…I'm happy. I've prayed for this, and I'm praying for it to be okay this time, and I know it's a risk to my health, but it's worth it. Having a miracle baby and a bigger family and a sibling for Logan finally, it's all worth it."

Dana simply nodded in response. She understood it and she knew she couldn't imagine how difficult the entire situation must be for Abby…and for Malcolm and Logan too. She realized then that they would all probably be living in fear until Abby had the baby and the doctor confirmed that they were all okay. It dawned on her then that she would be worrying until then too, but just about Abby she thought, since she had already come to care about her.

As they finished their afternoon at the spa and continued on to shopping Abby and Dana switched back to less serious topics like the tale of the time Malcolm lost Logan at Disneyland and how he was found hiding underneath a skirt of one of the women in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

* * *

Meanwhile, once they got on the lift on their first ride up the mountain Malcolm didn't waste anytime getting to the point, "So Dana's not actually your girlfriend right? You're just pretending for your mom's sake?"

"Yep," Logan replied honestly because there wasn't any need to lie to his dad. Plus, his dad was exactly like him when he was younger-he had been told many times-and he knew his dad wouldn't believe he could be in a relationship with one girl at his age because he couldn't.

"Why did you bring her then? And please tell me that you haven't just needed one room," Malcolm begged. He certainly didn't want to become a grandfather anytime soon.

Actually, now that Logan thought about it, they had only needed one room both nights they had been there, but since it wasn't for the reasons his father thought he wasn't about to say that. He continued telling his father the truth and hoping that Dana didn't come off sounding slutty because if she did he'd be getting his ass kicked for it eventually. He confessed, "We have a casual agreement and I figured I'd be here alone again and the prospects here tend to be slim and she wasn't particularly looking to being home much so I invited her here. And don't worry about the room situation; she wouldn't have it any other way. Dana has rules, very strict rules, and since it's casual and meaningless she doesn't let me past first base."

"How long have things been casual?" Malcolm asked out of curiosity. If his son was like him at that age then first base wasn't going to be a place he'd want to stay for long when he could get further with other girls.

"Like…three months," Logan said with a shrug trying to emphasize its meaninglessness. Knowing how it sounded though, he tried to reason it out to his dad, "But it's just good to have something where there's a guarantee that she doesn't think it will develop into anything. Lately the girls at school have seemed really clingy, so having something fake with Dana is convenient because she doesn't want to be in a real relationship with me just as much as I don't want to be in a real relationship with anyone. So, yeah, it's a good arrangement."

Logan was rambling, seemed nervous, and it had been three months. Malcolm thought his son's pretending, as nice as it was to do for his mother's sake, was also going to lose him a thousand dollars because Dana wasn't Logan's girlfriend. But after this bit of information-three months, nervous rambling- Malcolm thought maybe it was right he lose after all, maybe his wife was right and Logan and Dana just didn't know it yet. Malcolm decided time would tell and dropped the topic for the rest of their afternoon of skiing and boarding.

* * *

When Logan got back to his room around five in the evening he had a message waiting for him from his mom telling him that dinner was at seven and that meant he should meet her and his father in the lobby at six forty-five. There was a second message also from his mom saying that she had checked his bags and since he hadn't packed anything nice she picked up something for him to wear and expected for him to actually be wearing it.

At six forty-three Logan was still primping in front of the mirror when he received an angry knock at his door.

"Logan get your ass out here now! I will not be late for dinner with your parents because you couldn't tear yourself away from looking at your own reflection," Dana yelled through the door as she banged on it with a closed fist.

Logan rolled his eyes and headed for the door, fully intending to open it and retort with something like "I just wanted to get a good look at what everyone else in the restaurant will be staring at all night." But any comment or ability to speak at all was lost the second he answered the door. Dana was standing right in front of him in a strapless deep red dress. It was satin, had a sweetheart bodice and an empire waist, and a bubble hem line that rested inches above her knees. Plus, Dana was angry, which was one of his favorite looks on her. Logan was dumbstruck.

Dana noticed Logan's momentary lack of verbal ability and she blushed lightly as she turned in a huff toward the elevator and angrily jabbed in the down arrow. She appreciated Logan looking, but that didn't make her any less angry about Logan making them late. Also, by turning around she couldn't get caught staring at Logan for the same reason he was staring at her. But when she was with Abby and she picked up a black suit and dark green dress shirt that would compliment his eyes so well, Dana knew that she'd have to pray for the clothes fitting horribly or she'd be staring at least a bit. Since the clothes did fit Dana told herself as she waited for the elevator that she'd just have to try avoiding looking at him, otherwise she might be tempted to do things that his parents wouldn't want to see.

Dana heard the door shut, signaling that Logan had finally left his room and she could feel him staring from somewhere behind her. She decided maybe she should just address the issue before they got downstairs and with his parents. She jabbed the down arrow again as if it would make the elevator arrive sooner as she sighed with agitation and demanded, "What?" She turned back around with a glare and crossed her arms over her chest as she added, "Your mom said this restaurant she made reservations at is nice and I didn't have anything nice and despite my protests she insisted on buying me something to wear just like she did for you. There wasn't a lot of selection around here and since it's below freezing out I don't understand why any store around here would sell something sleeveless, but…". Dana trailed off simply ending with a shrug. She felt like she was talking too much, but she wasn't exactly comfortable about the dress and it had nothing to do with the way Logan was leering at her. The dress wasn't exactly cheap and the only reason she "needed" it in the first place was because she was lying to the nice woman who insisted on buying it; wearing the dress gave her a small terrible feeling deep in her stomach.

Dana was reassuring herself that the lying they were doing was for Logan's mom's benefit so it wasn't bad and she shouldn't feel guilty, when Logan distracted her from those thoughts by finally saying something. In the husky voice he usually got right before he kissed her he said, "I've never thought that my mom hates me, but she definitely hates me." His eyes roamed over her yet again.

The elevator dinged as it arrived and Dana rushed in as she hit the button for the lobby. Logan followed her as if in a trance. He came to stand very close to her as the elevator doors closed. He moved behind her slightly and brushed her left shoulder with the back of his hand as he said, "I can't resist shoulders. They're like my fifth favorite body part on a girl."

"Well you better resist because guess what your mom saw when I was trying it on?" Dana asked. Upon Logan's perplexed look she elaborated, "A hickey, which you can't see now because I finally managed to get it covered up with make-up and you are not going to put another one on my very exposed neck or shoulders. I didn't even know it was there, your mom was the one to point it out to me, which was pretty embarrassing by the way, and that is not happening again."

The elevator was moving so slow, as usual, and it was lasting too long for Logan's almost non-existent self-restraint. He shifted slightly so that he was fully behind her and let out a low growl as he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought his lips down to the curve where her neck met her shoulder.

"Logan," Dana warned, intending to sound agitated and seconds away from pushing him off of her, but it came out closer to a moan because God did he look and smell fantastic and it had been a really long day without him. She sunk back into his embrace as he got a bit more aggressive about his ministrations on her neck and shoulders.

The elevator dinged again as its doors opened and Dana was awakened from her Logan induced, anger-reduced, trance to shove him off of her before his parents saw. Unfortunately, Malcolm and Abby were waiting in front of the elevators and saw everything. Dana exited the elevator with her head ducked to hide her very deep blush. Logan exited with his head held high, he truly had no shame. Abby seemed to be ignoring it as she rushed them to the waiting car saying she knew better than to tell Logan the actual time they needed to leave as he could never be on time. And for some reason Dana couldn't figure out, Malcolm seemed to be resisting laughing.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

After a very short drive with Malcolm behind the wheel of their silver Lexus LX luxury utility vehicle, the group arrived at The Robin Hood Resort and entered The Nottingham Restaurant. They were seated at a round table, which luckily was next to the fireplace as Dana was freezing in her thin dress as she huddled in an equally thin shall. She could have worn her heavy skiing jacket or her pink bubble jacket, but they didn't go with the silky crimson red dress and black heels- which were really difficult to walk in on the icy ground, she didn't know how Abby did it so gracefully.

To the right of Dana sat Logan, with Abby on her left and Malcolm across from her. Dana was a little apprehensive when she read the menu, not because the items didn't sound good, but because it was kind of expensive. When it came time to order she went with one of the cheaper items- the top sirloin steak-which sounded good anyway.

After a bit of persuasion on Malcolm's part, he managed to convince Abby that he had been good enough about watching what he ate for his blood pressure and deserved a treat and ordered himself the filet mignon. Abby and Logan both ordered seafood dishes- Abby commenting that she was a big pasta eater usually, but that her doctor recommended a high protein diet for her and the baby.

When they discovered Dana had never had lobster bisque, Malcolm called the waiter back over and insisted on Dana trying a cup…as well as ordering it for Abby who had already ordered a salad and Logan who knew from experience that he didn't like it. But, possibly as a result of his health induced eating restrictions, Malcolm could be a little over enthusiastic over food.

Once the lobster bisque arrived Dana found it necessary to comment to Logan, "I always knew you were crazy, but how could you not like something this good?"

Logan shrugged as he passed his untouched cup to his dad as he had already woofed down his. Logan offered, "Its lobster in soup form…fish just shouldn't be soup."

"You like clam chowder," Abby pointed out.

"That's different," Logan began.

"Not really," Malcolm interrupted, "technically, yes they are two different soups, but basically they are both soups inspired by seafood."

"Plus, didn't you say you were going to order the lobster before you noticed the halibut? So you do like lobster, just not in this delicious bisque form," Dana challenged.

He wasn't really serious about it, but since they were clearly screwing with him, Logan got defensive asking, "What is it gang up on Logan night? Logan doesn't like this, Logan doesn't deserve this."

Upon Logan starting to refer to himself in third person Dana began shaking her head and finally said, "You know what happens when you talk about yourself in third person, do you really want that to happen right now?"

"I told you that if you hit me enough I will start hitting back," Logan began.

Abby laughed and quickly interjected, "No you will not. You wouldn't hit a girl ever. You know how disappointed I'd be in you if you hit a girl, which is why you couldn't hit Lisa Campelli when you were five even though she was attacking you."

"Again, she wasn't 'attacking' me, in a violent way at least, she was literally throwing herself at me because I have always been completely irresistible to all females," Logan said with his usual cocky smirk.

Dana let out a snort of laughter, making her opinion of his statement clear, and the course of the conversation was interrupted by the food arriving.

There wasn't much conversation during the meal, instead everyone was busy savoring their succulent meals, and when not savoring then talking about the meal.

When the food left on the plates was getting sparse Abby started the conversation back up when she realized, "Well, I guess we should discuss how you want to celebrate your birthday Logan, since it's coming up so soon."

Dana tried not to appear surprised by suddenly learning that Logan's birthday was apparently soon. She couldn't remember anyone celebrating Logan's birthday the last time she was at PCA or him leaving to celebrate, which was odd since Abby had implied that they did celebrate with him each year.

"Come on mom, you know I don't care and you do so you'll decide on something and it will be great as usual," Logan responded to his mother as he had been for years. His mom cared about what they did a lot more than he did so he decided long ago to just let her handle it, it made her happy.

Dana remained trying not to seem surprised since what Logan said was pretty sweet and that just did not fit the personality she knew him to have.

Abby smiled and fretted with her napkin a bit before revealing, "Well, I did have an idea…". Upon Logan's nod she continued, "Well, this last business trip we got back from today is my last trip at all and I'll be home practically on bed rest just taking it easy for the rest of the pregnancy. So, if you don't mind instead of doing something like a weekend away this year, and even though I know it's a big birthday – I can't believe you're sixteen already- I thought maybe we could just have a nice dinner at home?"

"Sounds good," Logan replied immediately to his mother's hopeful yet doubting question.

Abby managed to smile even bigger than she did before and reached over for her husband's hand on the table. She turned to Dana and added, "And of course you'll be there too, right Dana?"

Eek, that was not in their original agreement. She did promise to pretend to be his girlfriend and she knew that they'd have to let Abby think that until the baby was born, but they didn't think that that required them to play the roles of "boyfriend and girlfriend" more than this one time. Dana glanced at Logan who was wearing a face that said "crap" just like Dana was thinking and he gave a very tiny nod so she responded, "Absolutely."

The waiter came back over with desert menus and they all read them, but after the delicious meals they had consumed they weren't the least bit hungry. Except for Abby, who, since she was eating for two and completely over the little morning sickness she had experienced, ordered the black forest cake to-go. By the time the cake was delivered in a foil swan they could faintly hear music floating down from Friar Tuck's Tavern upstairs. By the time the bill was paid Abby was swaying in her seat and she insisted that they go upstairs to the bar and dance.

Friar Tuck's Tavern was just as cozy, but drastically different from Nottingham's restaurant. Nottingham's had windows of stained glass making up characters of Robin Hood and white linen table cloths and waiters dressed in tuxedos. Friar Tuck's Tavern had a television above the bar, a jukebox off to the side of the room, and some of the longer tables had benches instead of chairs. Since it was New Year's day there was a DJ off to the side of the space that was free of tables and clearly intended as a dance floor. Yet, despite the fact that they were clearly expecting a larger crowd since the bar had bothered to hire a DJ, it was rather empty with only two couples actually dancing.

They all set their coats down on the chairs of an empty table next to the "dance floor" and Dana sat down since Abby was the one who wanted to dance. Logan joined her also sitting down as Malcolm discretely made his way to the DJ while Abby was distracted by smelling the wonderful dessert that awaited her in her foil swan.

_I've got you under my skin_

Abby heard the familiar tune and her head snapped to her husband across the room. She smiled and walked toward him. He met her in the middle of the floor and she took his outstretched hand. He twirled her under his arm before bringing her completely into his arms and they started dancing.

_I've got you deep in the heart of me.  
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me._

"Logan," Abby called whilst continuing to dance.

_I've got you under my skin._

She didn't need to elaborate, Logan knew what she wanted. He let out a small disgruntled sigh as he stood up and offered his hand to Dana. She stared at it confused. She knew what the offered hand usually meant in this situation, she just didn't want to understand it now because she didn't want to dance with Logan…especially after everything that happened following the last time they danced together.

_I'd tried so not to give in.  
I said to myself: this affair never will go so well._

"Come on, we have to," Logan urged.

_But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know so well  
I've got you under my skin?_

Dana took his hand and got up. They were both equally unhappy as Logan began to smoothly lead them around the dance floor.

_I'd sacrifice anything come what might  
For the sake of havin' you near  
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night  
And repeats, repeats in my ear:_

Attempting to try and not focus on the fact that they were dancing together, Logan decided conversation might help-or arguing-and asked, "So, the whole black and red thing in eighth grade…a backfired plan?"

_Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?  
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.  
But each time that I do just the thought of you_  
_Makes me stop before I begin  
'Cause I've got you under my skin._

"Pretty much," Dana said with a shrug, "My parent's had already decided to ship me off to boarding school and, knowing that they think that red and black are the devil's colors, I got myself a new wardrobe just to bug them a little more before I left."

"Then you got here and only had red and black," Logan finished.

"Yeah, that was a drawback I hadn't thought of," Dana admitted, "but a wardrobe limited in colors for a year wasn't as bad as spending the year with them constantly judging and nit picking."

Logan had never really wondered why Dana had gone to France, but now learning that it was her parent's form of punishment he wondered what she had done to get sent out of the country. He couldn't resist asking, "So how did you get yourself sent to Paris?"

Dana rolled her eyes, not at him but at the memory of what happened. She complained about it often to her other friends so she didn't have a problem explaining to Logan, "I broke curfew, supposedly."

"Well, how late were you?" Logan asked figuring that she had to have come home at dawn when she had a ten o'clock curfew if the punishment was an all girls school-and that they must have thought she was with a guy, which he was trying not to be too obviously curious about.

"Two minutes," Dana responded and elaborated, "I was on my front porch reading a book that was actually approved by my parents-which is rare for them- and my watch was apparently slower than theirs. But they knew where I was and they knew I was two steps from the front door sitting on our porch swing reading. And when nine rolled around-yes they made my curfew nine o'clock- they came out and said I broke curfew, they didn't know why I was so disobedient, blah, blah, blah, all girls school in Paris, leaving in August."

Logan was completely confused, "But you were home, how were you breaking curfew?"

"Yeah, I've wondered that one myself," Dana commented.

Logan noticed his mom glancing at them and decided to do his dad's earlier move and twirled Dana.

_I would sacrifice anything come what might  
For the sake of havin' you near  
In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night  
And repeats - how it yells in my ear:_

As he brought her back into his arms she commented, "Smooth. Someone's taken dance lessons."

"With my mom of course I have," Logan admitted, "I'm just glad my dad managed to talk her out of tap and ballet when I was too young to protest."

_Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?  
Why not use your mentality - step up, wake up to reality?_

"Speaking of protesting, I'm not going to your birthday dinner or whatever. Like I actually want to waste a Saturday night celebrating you," Dana said and followed with a gagging noise.

_But each time I do just the thought of you  
Makes me stop just before I begin_

"Yeah well it's not like I want you there either. It would suck the fun right out of my birthday," Logan retorted.

_'Cause I've got you under my skin._

Dana taunted with a smirk, "Your mom wants me there though. She loves me."

_Yes, I've got you under my skin._

"And I've never doubted her sanity more," Logan returned easily.

The song ended and another one quickly began.

_For once in my life I've got someone who needs me_

And just as swiftly as the songs changed Malcolm was over insisting that Logan dance with his mother while he offered to dance with Dana.

_Someone I've needed so long  
For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me  
And somehow I know I'll be strong_

"Well, this is a bit odd," Malcolm commented after a few seconds of silence, "I haven't danced with a fifteen year old girl since I was fifteen year old boy."

He was right, it was awkward, so Dana was glad for the distraction of talking. She commented, "So you didn't take a younger date to the prom."

_For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of  
Long before I knew  
Someone warm like you  
Would make my dreams come true_

"I took multiple dates to the prom actually," Malcolm revealed with a nostalgic smile, "I guess some of them could have been fifteen, I don't actually remember who they were."

"Must have been really special," Dana said, not even attempting to hide her sarcasm.

_For once in my life I won't let sorrow hurt me  
Not like it's hurt me before  
For once, I have something I know won't desert me  
I'm not alone anymore_

"I guess I sound like Logan to you," Malcolm ventured, "Interested in a lot of girls and not serious about any of them." Upon Dana's slightly perplexed look, since she was wondering if he knew the truth, he explained, "Logan admitted to me earlier what the real situation is and how you're pretending for my wife. Thank you for that by the way."

"No problem," Dana said automatically, a little surprised that Logan had told Malcolm, not that it didn't make sense that he could know the truth, but she just hadn't considered it at all.

_For once, I can say, this is mine, you can't take it_

"Well, I kind of guessed it wasn't real since, like I said, Logan is a lot like me at his age and I couldn't have been in a serious relationship then. Thank god Abby didn't meet me then, she never would have fallen for me. I'm still not even sure how she did," Malcolm said wistfully as he glanced adoringly at his wife.

_As long as I know I have love, I can make it_

Dana looked toward Logan and Abby as well only to find him with his eyes on her.

_For once in my life, I have someone who needs me_

Malcolm noticed Logan's gaze as well and while he would expect his son to be ogling her, his earlier suspicions that he had truly lost the bet with his wife were further confirmed because Logan wasn't checking her out, he was just staring.

Dana had quickly looked away, glancing at their moving feet, so Malcolm decided to hint a bit since neither of them seemed to be getting it and his wife would be very pleased if she didn't learn of a supposed break up when she had the baby-_please God let them both survive_, he prayed as he always did upon thinking of the future, of her, of their new child. He commented cryptically, turning his attention back to the present before he lost his chance, "You know, I'm not sure anymore that Logan is really like I was at all."

_At least for once I can say this is mine you can't take it_

_As long as I know I've got love I can make it_

Dana immediately thought, _what an idiot, of course Logan was like Malcolm, he'd make out with any girl that would let him-which was a disturbingly high number of girls. _But then she realized what exactly he was actually implying and panicked for all of two seconds before reminding herself that they were just acting and apparently they were really really good at it.

_For once in my life I've got someone_

_For once in my life I've found someone_

Dana looked back over to Abby and Logan and had to tell herself again that Malcolm was wrong- everyone who implied it was real was wrong- and Logan was only looking at her like that because he was really good at acting like he wanted her.

_For once in my life I've got someone who needs me_

Thankfully the song had ended and Malcolm headed back towards his wife while there was a pause in between songs. Dana somewhat distractedly headed for the table they had left their things at. Logan joined her within seconds.

_Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream_

"Your mom going to call us back out there?" Dana asked without glancing toward Logan.

_Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream_

Logan shook his head, keeping his eyes forward on his parents instead of turning to Dana and responded, "Nah, not with this song playing, they probably won't even notice we aren't out there."

_When I want you in my arms  
When I want you and all your charms  
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream_

Dana understood that this song must have some significance for them, but didn't feel like asking, not right now when she was still telling herself the entire situation was just one big game of make believe.

_When I feel blue in the night_

_And I need you to hold me tight  
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam_

Logan leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs and letting them support him as he sat hunched forward. He could see Dana out of his peripheral vision, which was why he leaned forward, but he could still see her and he really didn't need to be looking…still. His mom had kept talking while they were dancing, she was going on and on about how much she like Dana and how happy she was that he was with Dana and suddenly he was staring at her as he danced with his mother. He kept telling himself that it was because she was looking especially hot in that little red dress, but still, he was looking an awful lot more than he usually looked at any girl. He tried not to worry.

_I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine  
Anytime night or day  
Only trouble is, gee whiz  
I'm dreamin' my life away_

They watched as Logan's parents swayed in rhythm to the song. Abby was glowing, just like she had been for most of the day. Malcolm was smiling down at her.

_I need you so that I could die  
I love you so and that is why  
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam_

Actually, it seemed that Malcolm was softly singing the words of the song to Abby.

_I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine  
Anytime night or day_

Dana decided to check, "Is he singing to her?"

_Only trouble is, gee whiz  
I'm dreamin' my life away_

"Yeah he usually does," Logan responded. He glanced back at Dana and elaborated, "It's like their song, you know the first one they danced to and the one they danced to at their wedding and everything."

_I need you so that I could die_

Dana nodded and she knew he saw her do so because when he had turned to her she had finally looked to him as well.

_I love you so and that is why_

She looked away now, as did Logan; they didn't have anything more to say so they didn't have any reason to be sitting and staring. Plus it certainly didn't help the convincing they were trying to do within their heads.

_Whenever I want you, all I have to do is  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream  
Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream_

The song faded away and Malcolm leaned in and kissed Abby briefly. Before they turned back to the table Logan sat back in his chair and turned toward Dana slightly so it looked like they weren't as separate as they actually were. Dana caught on and turned toward him a bit as well.

Abby and Malcolm headed for the table and they all grabbed their things deciding to call it a night and head back to their hotel.

After a few blocks, a few turns, a trek through the lobby, and a slow elevator ride, they found themselves on the third floor in front of Logan and Dana's rooms-Abby and Malcolm, while on the same floor, were on the other side of the U shaped hotel.

"So," Abby began getting everyone's attention on her, "I don't know how things worked before we got here and I don't want to know, but tonight you will definitely be spending the night in your own rooms. And it's not that we don't trust you-"

"But we've been your age," Malcolm interjected.

"So the staff is monitoring your rooms on their hallway cameras and we will know if you open your doors and will be alerted if you enter each other's rooms," Abby continued. Abby knew they were taking quite a bit of caution, but if they were that into each other, or simply the fact that Logan was a teenage boy and well, Logan, they felt the precautions were necessary. Abby grabbed her husband's arm and started walking down the hall a bit as she said, "Now of course we're going to let you say goodnight to each other and we're even going to give you some privacy to do so. We'll just be down the hall here, with our backs turned, so we don't hear or see anything and in a couple of minutes we will be turning back around to make sure you both enter your own rooms."

Abby and Malcolm were about thirty feet down the hall from where Logan and Dana stood in between their doors so Abby turned around and Malcolm followed her lead.

Despite her good intentions, Abby had managed to create quite an awkward situation.

Logan stood four feet in front of Dana. He sighed, kept his gaze on the forest green carpet, and scratched the back of his neck in agitation. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Was he supposed to say goodnight? Was he supposed to kiss her? He quickly ruled out simply saying goodnight since that really didn't seem like them. Kissing was definitely them, but was he really supposed to in this situation? What would that say about him? He hadn't kissed her since they were in the lobby over twelve hours earlier and he really wanted to kiss her. But if he took this single opportunity to kiss her, would it mean something more than not letting an opportunity go to waste? Would it mean that he wanted her? Would it mean that he was starting to lose his mind because he hadn't kissed her all day and he was desperate to do so again? Would it mean that he hadn't been pretending?

Dana fretted over the same exact thing as Logan and stared at her feet that were now turned pigeon toed in nervousness- a feeling that she was trying to write off as agitation at the situation.

While Dana continued to over analyze, Logan made a decision. So what if she could think that kissing her was a sign that he wanted her or was desperate to kiss her again or meant everything he did all day. The only thing that really mattered was the truth and the truth was that it had been twelve hours since he kissed her and was desperate to kiss her again and he did want her and it wouldn't mean anything because he didn't want it to mean anything. And even if it did mean something…just…_fuck!_ Absolutely the only thing he wanted to do right now was kiss Dana, so he was just going to do it.

Logan looked up, completely determined to wholly ignore the voice in his head telling him not to go through with this.

Dana sensed movement and looked up to find Logan looking at her and in two swift moves he was right in front of her, less than inches away. He put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her lips to meet his before he could change his mind. He wrapped his other arm around her waist as he kissed her slowly, savoring each second.

Dana wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer against her. She was glad she did have to make the decision, and she was glad he made the one she wanted to make.

Logan pulled away after only slightly over a minute and stepped backwards, his hand sliding off of the silk of her dress at her waist slowly.

Dana snapped her eyes opened, hoping that he didn't notice that they had lingered a bit shut as she was pretty dazed after that kiss-and absolutely not freezing anymore like she was. But the chances that he noticed were pretty good considering that his eyes were on her, looking at her with something that she didn't understand.

They got a distraction from their confusion in the form of Malcolm clearing his throat and then him and Abby turning around. Abby and Malcolm bade them goodnight, Abby coming back over to hug them both, they returned the goodnights and Abby and Malcolm watched as they both entered their rooms and shut their doors.

* * *

A continental breakfast was delivered at both Logan and Dana's rooms at six in the morning with a note to be packed, ready to leave, and in the lobby in an hour. Malcolm had business to attend to so they would be getting a ride back to school early.

When Logan exited his room five minutes to seven he found Dana leaving her room at the same time. She looked as exhausted as he felt, but he refrained from asking her about it since he didn't want to reveal why he had been awake, and they rode the elevator down in silence.

Dana spent the night pacing, worrying, and denying every implication the kiss could have. Next door, Logan did the exact same thing.

The bellmen loaded their luggage into the trunk of the Reese's SUV while Malcolm checked out and Abby, Logan, and Dana got in the car. Logan sat behind the driver's seat while Dana had gotten in on the opposite side and sat behind Abby in the passenger seat. Logan tapped Dana's shoulder and gestured with his head-discretely he hoped since his mom was so close. Dana sighed to show her agitation, but complied and scooted over into the middle seat so she was sitting closer to him. Logan put his arm on the seat behind her so it looked like his arm was around her without his arm actually being around her.

Before Malcolm got behind the steering wheel, Logan felt it was necessary to warn Dana, "My dad doesn't always seem like the best driver, and when you feel the urge to scream as most people do, don't do it because this is a small enclosed space."

Dana was confused and said, "What do you mean? Your dad drove to the restaurant last night; I didn't feel the urge to scream then."

"He's not so good on windy roads," Abby elaborated, "he doesn't seem to have the ability to stay in his own lane. But don't worry, he's never hit anyone and he's never been hit."

"You can only say that for so long mom," Logan pointed out and not for the first time.

"It's always fine Logan," Abby brushed off, "besides you know how I hate driving in the snow so we really don't have another option."

After they got on their way and Malcolm started on the windy highway down the mountain, Dana learned that they were absolutely right; Malcolm seemed unable to not drive down the middle of the road. But she was so tired she really didn't care and by the time they were twenty minutes into the three hour drive back to campus she was asleep.

Thirty minutes into the drive Logan was staring at the girl asleep with her head resting on his chest. He brought his arm down from resting on top of the seat and held her. He did it because it was expected…that was it. He was still looking at her when he felt someone looking at him. Logan looked up to find his dad glancing at them in the rearview mirror and his mother turned around, looking at them, and smiling.

"What?" Logan asked wanting to know what his mom wanted to say or whatever she was thinking that had her smiling…though he had a pretty good general idea.

"Nothing," Abby replied very unconvincingly with her smile as she turned back around and Malcolm averted his eyes.

By the time they had been driving for an hour Logan had fallen asleep himself, his head resting on top of Dana's. Abby was thankful that the flash from her camera didn't wake them when she took their picture. It wasn't the first picture she had of them since she had insisted on pictures at dinner the night before, but she always liked the non-posy pictures best.

Three hours after they started driving, just after ten in the morning, they arrived back at PCA. Logan awoke a couple of minutes before they returned he knew his parents noticed how he had been sleeping and he hoped they didn't comment. Dana woke up groggily as they parked at the front of the school.

They got their bags, said their goodbyes, Abby mentioning that she'd be calling Dana soon, and when his parents drove away they went their separate ways.

Three hours later Dana's room was full of the girls who had all returned and an hour later she left, heading for peace and quiet and anything that would allow her to ignore what _Bubble Boy _had made her think. She headed for the library basement and decided to sleep on the couch because when she was asleep she couldn't be plagued by thoughts that the kiss meant something and it was possibly not the first kiss that did.

By four o'clock the girls were worried and called Logan for the first time asking if he knew where she was, which he didn't. By six o'clock the girls had looked for Dana everywhere they could think of. By seven o'clock they had called Logan a dozen times asking for his help. And by seven thirty they were in his dorm room demanding that he find her because they were all convinced that her actions and attitude had to do with him.

Logan left his dorm by eight because he was tired of everyone bugging him. He knew where Dana probably was and headed directly for the library basement, he didn't have anywhere else to go so he might as well go where she was.

Logan jumping/falling through the window awoke Dana from her slumber.

"What are you doing here?"She asked since the answer wasn't at all obvious.

Logan shrugged as he headed down the remaining stairs, "The girls are all worried about you or something just because they couldn't find you and even thought they didn't think to look here, which is the most obvious place. Anyway they wouldn't shut up so I left."

"What are you doing here?" Logan asked as he came to sit down on the space of the sofa by her legs.

"Your parents woke us up way too early and the girls were catching up and being loud, I just wanted to sleep," she lied easily.

"I know, my dad's got to stop making early business appointments when it affects other people," Logan agreed and followed with a yawn he couldn't stifle. "Actually," he continued, "move over. Chase and Michael wouldn't shut up, they keep talking about how much Chase and Zoey talked over break and made it impossible for me to sleep, I'm tired too."

Dana complied and scooted over as Logan lay down next to her.

He hadn't kissed her all day again, so Logan leaned in and kissed her. Dana rolled over so that she was lying on top of his left side, getting more comfortable as they made out for the first time in almost an entire day. Her jean clad left leg tangled with his. One of her hands was resting against his side while her other grazed his chin and neck.

Dana sighed as she pulled away and rested her head on his chest. "Sooo tired," she bemoaned, compensating for while she was now essentially cuddling with him.

Logan's left arm had already come to wrap around Dana's back, but he moved his right hand from cupping her fact to wrap his arm around her waist, holding her closer as they both drifted off to sleep telling themselves that absolutely everything meant absolutely nothing.

The trip together hadn't been anything that they were expecting. It was just supposed to be something convenient for both of them. It was supposed to allow Dana to get away from her parents. It was supposed to allow Logan to have someone causal and not waste time getting a girl to keep him company in his parent's absence. And it was those things, but it had turned out to mean so much more as well, even if they didn't want to acknowledge it yet.

Dana wasn't just caught up in lustful kisses and hungry caresses; she was caught up in him. She was caught up in him, but she would tell herself that she wasn't. And through denial she was able to let it continue, to let herself get caught up with him still and more. Though, here Logan was beside her, something he was able to do through his own denial of the same thing. So they told themselves they were caught up in hormone induced desires, but they had moved past that long ago. Completely caught up in each other, they had been, they still were, and thanks to denial they would continue to be until denial stopped working and they would just be together. Together was a day far away, but by the intimate way they clung to each other in their sleep, that day would definitely be coming.

* * *

**A/N:** This whole DL arc like portion is over and next chapter will be like most other chapters that include everyone. I know the long delay in updates could have very understandably lost some readers, but I really hope that some of you are still reading. In hopes of keeping you interested here is a list of what will likely be all of the future chapter titles:

10- Well, That Was Unexpected

11-Clueless

12-Sixteen Candles is for Girls

13-Love Today

14-Make You Smile (the Valentine's Day chapter)

15-Foolish Games

16-Just A Kiss Away

17-Say Goodbye?

18- (This title will not be revealed until the end of the chapter-it's very significant to the content of the chapter)

19-Easier To Lie

20-She's Got the Devil in Her Heart

21-Come Together

22-Tomorrow I'll Be Gone

I really hope I can finish all of these relatively soon since I've had this story outlined for almost two years now. The next couple of chapters should be shorter-hopefully, and as I mentioned, I'm praying for my schedule to allow me to actually write them.

**Next Chapter:** There will be a first kiss, mention of how Chase and Zoey spent their New Years, and a new character will be coming on the PCA scene. That's all I can really say right now, but hopefully the chapter titles sounded enticing enough to keep reading.

**If you're still reading this story, thank you so much for your patience and understanding about my inflexible schedule. I hope you enjoyed getting caught up in this chapter and please let me know what you thought and that you're still reading as I am terrified that my long forced absence from this has left me-understandably so-with no one reading. **

**Please review and have a good day (or night)!**

**Out like a fat kid in dodgeball, **

**Sarah**


	12. 10: Awkwardness: The Epidemic

**A/N:** Hello all! I'm so sorry updating this story always takes so long, but by now I'm sure you've all realized how incredibly busy I am. In fact, just a few days ago I had reason to hope that things might have died down a little, but just yesterday I learned that on top of my heavy schedule of grad school classes I will also have to do work to submit to the state (for my teaching credential) and while I spend my nights (3-4 hours four days a week) in a classroom an hour away, I'll be spending my mornings (3-4 hours for five days a week) observing/teaching at a nearby school. At this point, I'm not sure how I'm going to manage any school work I have, but-probably wrongly so- I'm still optimistic about getting more time to write.

Enough about me though and let's quickly **review **where the story left off: Zoey and Chase were in a good place because of how much they talked over their winter break. Michael and Lola's relationship was moving slowly and it was partially due to a lack of time alone together and separate busy schedules. Quinn was happy with Jack. Nicole had a bad date with a guy she meet at the Halloween dance (Matt-a golf teammate of Chase's). Logan's mom hit it off with Dana as her and Logan pretended to have a "real" relationship. And Logan and Dana were still firmly stuck in denial as the drifted off to sleep in the library's basement.

**Notes for this chapter:** This chapter picks up the morning after the last one ended. So, it's their first day of classes after winter break. It's a Thursday because not only did I need it to be for plot points of this chapter and the next, but also my schools have very often started in the middle of the week so it's not unusual.

**Music** for this chapter is limited, but the songs are: "Don't Worry Baby" by The Beach Boys and "Nothing Like You and I" by The Perishers.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the songs, I don't own most of the basic characters (though I own my direction of their development), and I don't own the basic premise as presented by the show (though I every word and plot point in each chapter are my own).

**This chapter feels more necessary than…juicy, and it's not my favorite, but it is all necessary to head somewhere that I'm anxious and excited to get to. Despite the fact that it's not the most exciting chapter, I really hope everyone still reading enjoys it:)**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Awkwardness: The Epidemic**

* * *

Dana awoke on the couch in the basement of the library tightly wrapped in Logan's arms and with her arms clinging to him as well. But she didn't have time to notice that-and really didn't want to even if there hadn't been other pressing matters. As soon as she woke up she noticed the smallest bit of sun flooding through the windows, which caused her to immediately look at her watch. "Shit," she swore as she read the time and hurriedly scrambled over Logan to get up-kicking him in the process.

"Ouch," Logan bellowed as he woke up with a sudden pain shooting through his leg. "What the hell?" he demanded as he watched Dana scramble to the chair and pull on her boots.

"It's six thirty," Dana explained, not stopping as she tugged on her stubborn boots, "people are probably already up which is going to make it pretty difficult to sneak back into our rooms."

"Relax. I paid off our RA's moths ago," Logan replied easily as he laid back down.

"They're not the only ones that can catch us sneaking back in you idiot," Dana huffed as she put on her coat.

"Fine," Logan agreed as he got up and followed Dana to the unlocked window, "I need to get ready for class soon anyway."

"Yeah, God knows it takes you forever to get ready for anything," Dana replied. She taunted, "Your mom agrees with that too. She said the amount of time you spend in front of a mirror is the closest thing she has to having a daughter."

Dana pulled herself through the window and Logan followed saying, "And I hope it's the closest she gets to having a daughter. She better be having a boy because I don't want a sister. Girls are too much trouble."

Logan pulled himself to his feet to come face to face with Dana. Her eyes were narrowed at him-and rightly so considering he just insulted her gender.

She sighed and concluded, "I'm not sorry for kicking you in the shin. Obviously, it was just a matter of time before you said something stupid and deserved it. Oh, and look at that, you managed to make it a whole thirty seconds before that came true."

"Don't act like you're offended," Logan accused, "You know it's true that girls are trouble. You're even proud of the fact that you are."

She smirked and retorted, "Isn't that the only reason you spend any time with me?" She closed the space between them so that her chest was brushing his and met his eyes as she said suggestively, "Wouldn't you have a whole lot less fun if I wasn't_ trouble_?"

Logan groaned and responded, "See, trouble. You're so much trouble. Why do you have to be like that?"

"I don't know. Why do you have to be such a jerk?" she returned with a smirk.

Logan gave up trying to delay what he really wanted to do just because they were in the middle of a pretty stupid conversation. He kissed her soundly as he wound his arms beneath her coat and under her sweater to pull her tighter and tighter to him by her bare waist.

What they were talking about wasn't important-as usual- so Dana didn't object as Logan deepened the kiss and dragged her back a few steps so he was pressed up against the outside wall of the library (or did she do that?).

A couple of minutes later Dana remembered why_ now_ was not appropriate make-out time. She pushed herself off of Logan as she said, "Not now. We have to get back to our _own _rooms."

"Fine," Logan agreed with a pout. Dana turned to leave, but he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her back to him. He kissed her before she could question his actions and when he ended it he suggested, "Meet me before class."

"I'm not missing breakfast," Dana declared because before winter break she had been missing breakfast a lot because of Logan and by lunch she was always starving-she did not want to continue this pattern.

He didn't bother arguing. He just kissed her again and repeated as he held her face in his hands, his eyes meeting hers, "Meet me."

She couldn't help but smile just a little-it was another thing that would be ignored by her now and later. "Probably not," she said as she stepped away from him again, still smiling, and offered coyly, "but we'll see."

Dana raced off toward her dorm before he could stop her again because she knew it was pretty likely that he would if she gave him the slightest opportunity. She also knew it was pretty likely she would give in to his advances, but she couldn't, not now. Right now she had to try and make it back to her room before Lola woke up and noticed that she hadn't been there all night. Sure, she told Logan that they both needed to get back so they wouldn't get in trouble, but really, she didn't want their friends to know that they were together all night. Not that she cared what they thought or anything since she _knew_ it was all perfectly excusable (they just fell asleep-no big). But still, if she could avoid the incessant questions, the looks that suggested that she was somehow missing something when really it was they who didn't comprehend the situation, the doubtful eyes that showed how much they suspected every word out of her mouth was a lie, she was going to do anything to avoid all that.

So she ran to her dorm room, opened the door as quietly as she could, tip-toed to her bed, gently lifted the covers, got in, and pulled the covers all the way back up so the fact that she was in yesterday's clothes wouldn't be noticed. She had kept her eyes on Lola across the room the entire time and Lola didn't move a single millimeter. She relaxed in her bed, she shut her eyes and tired to drift off to sleep for the next few minutes before her roommate's alarm went off.

Lola, however, was an actress and she was very good at acting like she noticed nothing when really she knew her roommate had been gone all night and had just returned and was likely with Logan-she'd have Michael confirm it later, they already had a plan.

* * *

Chase and Michael were the only ones to make it to breakfast later that morning. Being the first day back after winter break there was the necessary re-adjustment to getting up early and being able to get ready by the time class started. The girls stopped by the coffee cart on their way to class-as did Logan a moment later since his hair took a particularly long time that morning.

The girls continued on to homeroom, but Logan caught up to Dana just before she entered and they spent the moments before the bell rang in a corner near their classroom. The rest of the girls headed on into class to meet up with Chase and Michael who had some news.

"Did you guys hear?" Michael asked from the other side of Chase as the girls passed by to get to their tables.

"What?" Quinn asked since if there was any news and the other girls knew it, she certainly didn't.

Chase directed his response toward Zoey; it was an involuntary habit he had picked up long ago. He explained, "Merrill dorm had a pipe burst early this morning, all three floors flooded."

"No way," Nicole exclaimed, thoughts of wet hot shirtless guys in pajama pants running around their dorm now streaming through her mind.

Michael nodded and elaborated, "Yeah, they're placing each of the guys from the dorm in any room in Stevenson, Brenner, or Regan with a couch to spare."

"So you guys have an extra roommate for now?" Lola deduced.

"We do?" Logan asked surprised as he joined the group, Dana trailing with him trying to smooth her hair as she sat down.

"No," Chase responded, "We don't have a new roommate…yet. Our RA said the guy who was assigned to our room is a transfer this semester and he's not here yet. But he should be getting here this afternoon and Michael and I were thinking that we could invite him to eat with us tonight so he can meet some more people."

"That's so nice of you," Zoey beamed, not at all surprised that Chase would be that thoughtful.

Chase could feel the blush rising on his cheeks and neck, so he ducked his head and Michael asked the question he was now too distracted to voice, "So you guys will all come and meet him tonight if he wants to eat with us right?"

Everyone in the group voiced their agreement as the bell rang and the plan was officially set, at dinner everyone would be meeting the new guy.

* * *

At lunch Chase revealed the few details he did know about their soon to be temporary roommate that his RA had told him. Quinn missed out on the info since she was having lunch alone with Jack, but she wasn't missing out on much anyway because Chase didn't know that much. What he did know ended up being cut off by Logan's loud complaints that they didn't need to befriend anyone else, the group was already too big, and they should actually be downsizing. Conversation digressed from "the new guy" from there.

Across the quad Tiffany ate lunch by herself. Normally she was at least joined by Jenna and Morgan, if not many other members of the squad since her "super bitchy captain" days were over. But today, she sat alone. All the other girls were fawning over the football team, which given that she had already at one time gone out with half of them, she didn't feel like joining them.

There was also the fact that John could join them and she knew she shouldn't be spending more time with him-things would just get more complicated if she did.

Five minutes after she sat down to lunch by herself, someone sat down right next to her and just her luck, it was John.

"So," he began, "your friends have taken over my friends."

"That doesn't mean you can sit here," she snipped. Yeah, it was mean, but she had a really good time with him over break-too good of a time-and it'd be easier if he hated her, like before, she had almost convinced herself that she truly detested him until they had that one honest moment in his car that totally ruined everything she was trying avoid.

"I didn't ask your permission to sit here because it's not up to you," John replied easily unfazed by her tone because he had learned in the past few weeks that she would occasionally get a little hostile, but so far it always got better so he figured it was never about him and just brushed it off. He continued on confidently, "And don't act like you don't want me here, we both know you're happy that I decided to eat lunch with you."

Tiffany didn't flinch-outwardly at least. Her mind was screaming with thoughts of "Oh God, he can't know. He can't know." She responded trying to play calm and nonchalant, "How do you know I don't want you to leave? I mean, we already had to see each other every day of break. Maybe I'm really sick of you and glad to be back at school where we could be around other people and not have to see each other, which you ruined when you sat down."

John took a bite of his burger, laughed a little as he shook his head. She was impossible, and that should bother him a ton more then it did-which wasn't at all. Once he was done chewing he tried moving on from the fake argument that she would surely win, "So, how's your day been?"

Tiffany shrugged, not noticing that they were creeping back into "normal" territory as she replied, "Okay. Basketball season doesn't start for a few weeks and they're not even practicing yet so our cheer coach told me that we should take a break too, so no practice until the end of next week."

"Yeah, well that makes sense. I mean, we don't start basketball practice until next week so you guys shouldn't have to practice when we don't even have to," John agreed. He was going to continue on to say that since they both had the next week free then they could hang out, if she wanted. But before he got to make the suggestion that was bolder than he realized at this moment (although later it would plague him), his phone rang. He smiled at the name on the screen before he answered, "Hey Hailey."

Tiffany seemed to perk up at the mention of her stepsister's name; she stopped picking at her fruit cup and attentively listened to John's side of the conversation.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" John promptly asked before his sister could even begin to tell the reason she was calling. "Right, Monday, I forgot," he responded. "So what's going on?" he asked good-naturedly. His eyebrow shot up as he replied, "Tiffany? Yeah she's right here actually." Next he said, "Okay, fine," and held the phone out to Tiffany.

Tiffany took the phone and it was John's turn to listen attentively to one side of the conversation.

"What's up Hales?" Tiffany greeted sweetly. "No way!" She exclaimed and then said something that made John want to take his phone back, "You got asked out! Congratulations! Who is he and when and where are you going?" Tiffany could see John's agitation so she switched his phone to her other ear, the one that was furthest from him so he couldn't try anything.

John sat impatiently through the rest of Tiffany's conversation with his sister; jiggling his knee up and down beneath the table, a habit arisen out of his distressed state.

When Tiffany finally ended the call with his sister five minutes later-Hailey had to go- she couldn't even give him his phone back before he cried, "My sister has a date?"

Tiffany nodded as she resumed eating her lunch, "Yeah, his name's Adam. He's apparently super cute and lives a couple of blocks away from us. He's also in her class and he plays guitar in his own garage band."

"She's too young to date," he declared, utterly frustrated at the fact that his mother-or even his new stepfather-were going to let this happen. And, what was especially perplexing to him at this moment was that Tiffany seemed excited at the news.

Tiffany scoffed and argued, "She's thirteen. Plus, your mom is driving them; they're only going to his church's teen dance together. Stop freaking out. Unreasonable, overprotective Neanderthal is a really…annoying quality."

"It's 'unreasonable, overprotective, and Neanderthal' of me to want to protect my baby sister?" John questioned.

"It's a first date with a thirteen year old boy on which your mom or members of his church will always be present. She doesn't need protecting for that," Tiffany argued. She was completely on Hailey's side. If a cute boy asked her out, she should get to go, and she trusted that Hailey knew what she was agreeing to and how to handle herself. Thus, John's overprotectiveness was completely irrational and unnecessary. Yet, it was also kind of really sweet and adorable, but she couldn't-shouldn't-notice things like that so she started her very valid argument in hopes that it would help her concentrate on the fact that he was wrong.

Of course he had to go and ruin that for her with the next thing he said. His head hung as he stared at the table, he admitted honestly, quietly, "I just don't want to see her get hurt."

Tiffany couldn't help it. When he did something like that, something that made her heart go thud, thud, thud, her actions just couldn't be controlled. She reached out across the table and took his hand in hers, a comforting sign of reassurance. It would have been completely innocent if it was anyone else. But with him, with the thud, thud, thud, in her chest, the heat on her cheeks that came when ever her skin came in the slightest contact with his, and the flip her stomach did when he looked up and smiled at her, it was anything but innocent.

She made up an excuse about needing to pick up some stuff from her room so she could leave lunch with him early without being rude, because now, at this moment, she knew she couldn't pull off actually being mean to him.

* * *

Awhile after classes ended for the day Michael waited in front of Lola's door for her for ten minutes before getting a text telling him she'd probably be a while. He considered going back to his dorm, but he knew Zoey was helping Chase straighten the place up before they're new temporary roommate arrived and he hated to intrude on their alone time. He had been hearing noise from the room across the hall though so he decided maybe he'd just hang out there to wait for Lola-unless Nicole had someone over, because then his presence would be awkward.

Michael knocked and instead of the door opening he heard Nicole loudly shout, "Come in."

"Hey-" Michael began as he entered the room and shut the door behind him.

"Shh!" Nicole interrupted not even glancing at him, her eyes glued to the TV screen in front of the couch she was sitting on.

Michael came around the short corner to look at the screen as he walked over to the couch and sat down next to Nicole. He recognized the movie instantly. She was watching _Sleepless in Seattle_.

Thirty seconds later the movie went to commercial break and Nicole promptly turned to him and apologized, "Sorry for the 'shh'-ing, but I love this movie. I didn't even mean to stay here just watching TV, but I turned it on for just a second and I saw this movie coming on and I couldn't resist."

Michael nodded understandingly, "Of course you couldn't resist, it's a classic."

Nicole lit up as she exclaimed, "You like it!"

"Well, it's not my favorite movie or anything," Michael said with a shrug, "but thanks to my mom and my sister I have seen it at least twenty times and it's a good story."

Nicole squealed with delight as she said, "I've never met a guy who actually had something good to say about it before. I'm so glad you stopped by so I could find out that one guy who likes it actually exists. Wait…why are you here?"

"Oh," Michael said, suddenly remembering why he was even there in the first place, having been previously distracted by Nicole, "I was supposed to hang out with Lola, but she's at a meeting for Drama Club and apparently they're still fighting about what play they're going to do next and I don't want to go back to my room and be a third wheel to Chase and Zoey, so is it cool if I hang here?" Michael spoke a little faster than usual and he genuinely didn't know what Nicole's answer would be. Sure they were all friends, but in the two and a half years that he knew Nicole, they almost never hung out alone unless there were extenuating circumstances.

"Of course," Nicole responded immediately. She knew that she never really hung out with any of the guys alone so she understood why Michael felt the need to ask her permission to stay. But she also hoped that that could change, that she could become better friends with all the guys and since the opportunity arouse to make sure that one of them knew that they could hang out with her, she took advantage of it.

The movie came back on and it was nearing Nicole's favorite part as Annie was in the car listening to Sam describe his wife. Then the line came and Nicole said along with both Sam and Annie, the ever famous completion of the line, "It was like…". "Magic," she said, drawing out the "M" in the same way as the characters in the movie.

What shocked Nicole was that at the same time she spoke along with the movie, so did Michael. She turned to him with wide eyes.

"What?" He questioned defensively, "It's got to be one of the best movie lines ever."

Nicole simply smiled and digressed, "See, you're a total romantic. You just get it. That's why you're so much better at relationships than Chase and Logan. I mean, not at the moment, but in general you're so far ahead of them."

"What do you mean 'not at the moment'?" Michael asked. He appreciated the compliment and was not ashamed of the fact that yes, perhaps he was a bit of a romantic, but he was pretty sure he was doing all right with Lola.

Nicole realized what she had said and it become one of many moments that she wished she actually thought before she talked. She was so caught up in finding out that Michael was into _Sleepless in Seattle_ and she had wanted to compliment him on his ability of handle a relationship better than Chase or Logan for a while-not that being better than Chase or Logan really said much. She got carried away and now she could either attempt to lie and brush it off or tell the truth and potentially help a friend or hurt a friend by telling what was probably a secret. She attempted to go at the conversation so it would be more of a helpful nature, "Well, it's pretty obvious you haven't kissed Lola yet and considering it's been two and a half months since your first date, it's not exactly ideal."

Nicole said precisely what Michael had a feeling she was going to say. He thought he and Lola were truly okay, but he also knew that Nicole was right. Two and a half months was a really long time to go without kissing a girl he really liked-especially when he knew she liked him too. He was hoping no one else noticed the length of time and lack of kissing and he really hoped Lola was too busy to notice because he really didn't want to screw up with her. He did have his reasons for not kissing her yet though. He tried to explain to Nicole, "Look, I know I should have kissed her by now. It's just, well, first, we don't get to spend that much time together alone so…there haven't really been that many opportunities. I mean, I could probably count them on my hands. Plus, I really don't want to mess things up with Lola. There's a lot of pressure to pick the right time, the right moment and I want it to be perfect."

"Okay, you have some valid points," Nicole granted because it was sweet that he wanted it to be perfect, she hoped someday someone took that much consideration for a first kiss with her. Yet she also knew that the wait was really worrying Lola so she suggested, "But you know where and when don't really matter if it's right. Like, if tomorrow at lunch Chase just turned to Zoey, grabbed her and kissed her. Do you really think she'd care that we'd all be sitting there watching or that the position may be uncomfortable? Of course not."

"I know," Michael agreed. He knew that when for Chase and Zoey or people like them-so obviously meant for each other-then when or where didn't really matter. But, what worried him and why he was so concentrated on 'perfect', was because he worried that he and Lola weren't like Chase and Zoey. He had never told anybody that, not even Chase despite the fact that they talked about relationships frequently, but somehow with Nicole it seemed easy to confess to. He continued, "It's just, what if for me and Lola the when and where really do matter?"

Nicole worried her lip. This was probably information that she shouldn't know. Lola was her friend too and if Michael was having some kind of doubts she didn't want to get in the middle of it since they both talked to her. But Michael was actually her friend first and this whole conversation was her fault. Plus, she realized that Michael had only insinuated something and if she was going to assume it she might as well get confirmation. She asked, "You mean, what if you're not MFEO?"

"Yeah," Michael confirmed completely getting her reference to the movie.

"Okay first," Nicole said with a smile, "I can't believe you got that. You really have seen this movie a lot."

"You have no idea," Michael interjected.

"Second," Nicole continued, "what makes you think that you're not meant for each other?"

Michael shrugged and explained, "It's not that I don't think we're meant for each other, but I don't know that we are either. You know?" With Nicole's understanding nod, he continued, "We're not like Chase and Zoey. The first moment I saw Lola I wasn't automatically in love with her. And I really like her, but I don't know if I'm ever going to…"

Michael had trailed off, but Nicole thought she knew where he was going so she suggested, "Be in love with her."

Michael nodded. It was what he wanted to say, but he hated even thinking that pessimistically about their relationship. He knew, he should just enjoy that he was crazy about her now and not worry if it was going to turn into a really serious relationship, but it was difficult to ignore the wondering if they had a future when both of his roommates had already seemed to find _that_ girl for them.

"Michael," Nicole began seriously, "I know that it seems like high school is the place to meet your soul mate because of movies and TV shows and Chase and Zoey and their obvious MFEO-ness, and Logan and Dana and their weird, but obviously serious thing, but most people don't meet the person they're meant to be with in high school. Of course I'm looking and, personally, I like that idea, but I know realistically that the best I can hope for in high school is what you and Lola have. You're friends who really like each other and who truly want to be together. And maybe she won't be 'the one', but maybe you both pursued this relationship because you both need to know if you're soul mates or just a good couple."

Michael was quite, contemplative, for a minute before he concluded, "Yeah, you're right. I should probably just kiss her then, huh? Just let everything play out and see where we go."

"Definitely," Nicole agreed, "Just go for it."

"Thanks Nicole," Michael said sincerely, "You know, you're really good at this."

"You're welcome and thank you, everyone's got to be good at something right," Nicole said with a modest shrug.

They turned back to the movie, but within fifteen seconds it went to commercial again.

Michael attempted to make conversation, "So, how'd that date go you had ...last night, right?"

"Yeah," Nicole said, confirming he had the time right, "it was…awful. I'm not going to be seeing him again."

"What went wrong?" Michael asked curiously.

Nicole hesitated, but confessed, "He was racist."

Damn. That was not what Michael was expecting. Knowing Nicole-sort of-he thought she'd say something like 'weird mole' or 'boring' or 'just not into him really'. Now that he thought about it though, it actually made perfect sense. He responded, "Well, that kind explains why he was so weird the one time I met him."

"Probably," Nicole agreed.

Silence settled between them again as a Target commercial came on. Nicole couldn't resist singing along to the happy Beatles tune "Hello Goodbye" that played during the commercial.

Michael looked over at her, not really surprised that she was singing along since he had watched TV and movies with her before. But, looking over made him realize something for the first time since he got in the room. He asked as he pointed to the sweatshirt she was wearing, "Is that my sweatshirt?"

"Oh," Nicole said, as she blushed a little embarrassed that she was caught in it. She rushed on to explain so he wouldn't get any weird idea's about her, "Yeah, I'm so sorry I didn't get it back to you. I kept meaning to, but I always forgot to include it in my laundry and I didn't want to give it back to you when it hadn't been washed since you let me borrow it that day. But I remembered over break and I got it dry cleaned and I told myself that I had to return it to you by the end of the day today. So, I came back after classes and I figured, well, I'll just have a little snack and be on my way to drop this off at your room. Then I turned on the TV and you know, _Sleepless_, and then as I was sitting here with it in my hand ready to leave, but too caught up watching, I got cold and put it on. But I swear I'll wash it tonight and get it back to you first thing in the morning. I'm so sorry I've had it this long. Zoey's always telling me how bad I am with stuff that I borrow."

"Nicole," Michael said cutting her off from rambling any further, "Don't worry about it." Nicole opened her mouth, probably to apologize again he figured, but he cut her off from doing so, "I have two PCA sweatshirts at all times and since they shrink so much when you wash them, I replace them every six months or so. I had already bought a replacement for that one when you asked to borrow it. So, really, don't worry about it. You can even keep it if you want it. It's too small for me now anyway."

Nicole immediately looked immensely relieved. But she questioned about keeping it, "Really?" Michael nodded. She continued, "Thank you. It's so comfy and big. I actually really like it a lot more than most of my clothes; they're all kind of binding. It's so nice of you to let me keep it."

"It's no problem. Though, I'm sure a lot of guys will now be mad at me for giving you something non-binding to wear," Michael complimented as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Nicole pulled a Dana and rolled her eyes. She couldn't help it; the idea was ridiculous to her. "I'm sure," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, you're right. Most guys wouldn't be mad since I know they liked seeing you in just the sweatshirt. You were turning heads all day in that," Michael said taking a different tactic because he never understood how Nicole had such low self-confidence sometimes.

"Seriously?" She questioned.

"I could make you a list of the guys," Michael offered.

"I'd appreciate that," Nicole responded because if guys were ever looking, she didn't notice. And if they were ever really interested then they never said anything because she certainly almost never got hit on.

The movie had long since returned and they continued watching it in silence-with the exception of one of the occasionally talking along with a line-until commercials when they continued with general conversation that, as ninety percent of their conversation were, eventually turned to the topic of Chase and Zoey.

* * *

Michael didn't get a text from Lola letting him know her meeting was over until _Sleepless in Seattle_ had been over for twenty minutes. He decided to wait in the hall for Lola to make her way across campus so he thanked Nicole for letting him hang out and for her advice and once again found himself waiting in the hallway. This time, it was only minutes before Lola joined him.

She greeted him with a hug before she unlocked her door.

"So what play did you guys end up with?" Michael asked as he followed Lola into her room.

"Romeo and Juliet," she answered as she put down her book bag, "which is good because it's what I was arguing for. There was a ton of people that thought it was way too predictable to do it, but I think knowing Dana has improved my arguing ability because I eventually was victorious."

"You're going to try out for Juliet then?" Michael questioned, genuinely interested.

"Nope," Lola denied with a smirk, "I'm going to try out for Romeo." Since Michael looked appropriately confused at that she explained, "How boring would it be if all the girls in the play were played by girls and all the boys played by boys? We do every play like that and this one is pretty depressing so I thought I could try to help mix it up a little, make it more interesting."

Michel nodded in understanding and said sincerely, "I'm sure you'll make a great Romeo."

"Thank you," Lola said graciously as she made her way over to her computer to turn it on and get started on their task. "Okay," Lola said getting back to their purpose, "we really have to get a blog up because the last one was prior to the exchanging of Christmas gifts and so much needs to be told about what's been going on with Chase and Zoey and Dana and Logan."

"Alright," Michael agreed, "who do you want to start with?"

Lola had already given it some thought so she replied easily, "I think we should go with Dana and Logan first. Even though they did sort of make some progress with the whole extra gift exchange we watched through the window and the fact that they went away together, they're still strongly stuck in denial, which is not the happiest note to end on. Chase and Zoey are adorable almost always though so they'll be good for a more positive ending."

"Okay, where do we being then?" Michael asked letting Lola take charge as usual since she was a lot more into it than he was.

"Let's practice the Dana-Logan gift exchange," Lola said angling the camera to the appropriate place in her room to set it up like Dana and Logan were in his room that night (which they knew from watching through the binoculars). Michael joined Lola in the frame of the camera as she said, "So we'll start out with just mentioning the gifts given in front of everyone and then go into what we saw as their extra gift exchange. So, you'll give me a camera, then they made out for a while, and then she pulled out the mistletoe and he put it above her and they ended up on the bed."

"Are we narrating it or trying to come up with what they possibly could have said?" Michael checked.

"Umm…" Lola pondered. She had been thinking about it, but she couldn't decide. She knew they probably wouldn't guess the correct dialogue because whoever knew what either one of those two was thinking during any of their interactions, but third person narration seemed a bit odd when they were acting it out. She offered, "Maybe we should try it both ways? Unless you have a preference?"

"Both is fine with me," Michael said agreeably.

"Okay, then let's try the narration first," Lola decided. Neither made a move for a second so she realized what came next and went over and hit record on the camera set up (just in case it turned out good and they could use it). She came back to her position of "Dana" standing near Michael/ "Logan" and said, "Alright so this is the secret gift exchange."

Again neither of them did anything for a second, but Lola gave Michael a look that said "do something" and he realized he probably was supposed to start with the camera and all. He explained, "First Logan gave Dana a camera. He didn't have it wrapped; he took it out of the box himself and sort of just chucked it at her a bit. All casual and stuff. He said some stuff and so did she, but then she leaned forward and kissed him, took some pictures of them, and then they made out for about five minutes or so."

Michael handed the camera off to Lola as he spoke, slightly tossing it to her. She mimicked saying stuff back trying to recall Dana's general attitude during the exchange and portray it correctly.

Whenever they mentioned the now ever common Dana-Logan make out moments they just skipped over acting them out or did so in a very fake comical way in which their lips were never touching. This time was no different. They simply bi-passed it and Lola moved on.

"Dana stopped broke off their kissing and was saying something-again all casually- and pulled mistletoe out of her pocket followed by what we assume was a tact by the way it was then used. And she gave it to Logan and he dragged over a chair and pinned it up above her head again and then they made out and we stopped watching so we don't know what happened after that, nor do we really want to," Lola explained.

While she was talking Michael got out the mistletoe Lola had brought and tacked it to the ceiling above Lola just as Logan had done with Dana. Michael thought about what Nicole had said about just going for it and kissing Lola and now they did have the mistletoe. So as soon as Lola was done talking Michael made his move.

"Wait-what are you doing?" Lola questioned jumping back, caught off guard. He was going to kiss her now? But they were in the middle of rehearsal, which was something that they had done over a dozen times, what made this one so special?

"Well, we're under mistletoe," Michael explained. That wasn't the only reason he wanted to kiss her now, but he figured it wouldn't sound very good if he said, "Nicole reassured me that it's a good idea."

Tradition? He was finally going to kiss her because of a holiday tradition? Well, that sucked. Lola had a difficult time believing that since she was fairly sure Michael liked her as much as she liked him. So, she asked, "Is that the only reason?"

Being a very honest guy, Michael responded honestly, "Other than that I've wanted to kiss you since Halloween."

Lola couldn't help but smile and blush. But there was a task to be done so she ignored her flattered blush and her happy smile and said, "Okay then…let's do this."

Awkward moment number one then ensued.

It was quickly followed by awkward moment number two when Michael stepped closer to Lola-since she had stepped back earlier- and put his hands on her shoulders. He instantly regretted it, but he didn't want to look like more of an idiot and let her know that that was not what he intended (not that he knew what he really intended to do) and move them.

They thought the worst of the awkward moments was when moving to kiss each other, they bumped heads/noses/cheeks. They laughed it off a bit-awkwardly again- and tried again. This time they got it right and it resulted in the ultimate awkward moment.

After, Michael quickly left while still making up an excuse while Lola rambled so reason that she needed him to leave.

* * *

Dinner that night was supposed to consist of the whole gang meeting the new guy that the guys temporarily had staying on their couch. He had arrived just an hour earlier and none of the girls had met him yet. But at dinner Chase, Michael, Logan and the new guy, Sean Loring, ate alone.

They had been waiting for the girls for three minutes before Logan said he's not waiting any longer to eat. So, they got their food and sat down and still there was no sign of any of the girls. Finally, now, after twelve minutes of waiting, Chase got a text. He read it, shot a look at Michael, and announced, "Zoey says the girls aren't coming. Apparently there's an emergency and they need a girls night."

Chase shot both Michael and Logan a look since he had guessed that one of the guys had screwed up and since he was pretty sure it wasn't him it had to be one of them.

"What?" Logan asked noticing Chase's look.

"What did you do to get the girls to ditch us?" Chase asked bluntly.

"Nothing," Logan claimed looking annoyed at the accusation. Chase looked doubtful so he put it another way, "If Dana had a problem with me then she'd just say I'd broken one of her stupid rules, we'd spend time apart for a while, but it wouldn't change anything for the group. And I don't think I haven't even seen any of the other girls since lunch so I couldn't have done anything to them."

Logan had a good point. Plus, if Dana was really mad at Logan she would have wanted people around so she could publically punish him. Though, maybe the girls were needed by Dana because her and Logan had finally realized they were in a real relationship. Chase quickly brushed off that thought since they were both far too stubborn for that. He agreed and moved on, "Fine. How about you Michael, everything good with Lola?"

Instead of answering, Michael turned the question around on Chase as he asked, "Why are you accusing us of stuff? You spent the afternoon with Zoey."

"She texted me to tell me what's going on so obviously she's still talking to me. Lola and Dana aren't talking to you guys though so this has got to be about one of you guys," Chase reasoned.

"Dana never talks to me, it'd be weird if she did tell me something," Logan defended again.

Michael was silent, which drew the attention of all three other guys.

Sean was utterly confused, but intrigued nonetheless.

Finally, Michael caved and confessed, "Fine. It's my fault. I kind of kissed Lola earlier for the first time and it didn't go well."

Logan broke out in a fit of laughter. "You kiss her and she stops talking to you. That's hilarious," Logan exclaimed between laughs.

"What happened?" Chase asked, empathy in his voice.

"I don't know what happened," Michael responded despondently, "it was just really, really awkward and…bad."

Like a typical guy, Michael did not share any further and none of the guys pressed for a better explanation. Instead they just figured they'd work it out or they wouldn't, but that was up to Michael and Lola.

Since silence had returned to the table Sean decided to get a start on the now many questions on his mind. He asked, "So, you're with this Lola," he said to Michael, "you're with a Dana," he said to Logan, "and you're with Zoey?" he asked to Chase.

Sean received two no's and one yes as a response.

Being the one that said yes, Michael explained first, "Lola is my girl friend. Or at least I think she is, but that may change I guess. I hope it doesn't."

Logan jumped in to promptly deny any sort of relationship with Dana, "I'm not with Dana. We're just sort of like friends with benefits except we're not friends. She's friends with these two though…somehow." Logan explained and gestured to his two roommates.

"What about you and this Zoey girl?" Sean asked curiously, "You're not with her, but you've talked about her almost constantly since I got here?"

Chase was about to try and explain when Logan interjected, "Yeah, he doesn't usually shut up about her-you'll learn to tune it out. But he's in love with her and don't tell her that because he hasn't."

"Logan!" Chase admonished.

"What? He would have figured it out for himself in five more minutes anyway," Logan defended.

"It's true," Sean added, "I was already thinking that it was a secret crush/love situation on…I'm guessing she's, what? Your best friend or just a really good friend?"

"Best friend," Michael and Logan responded together before Chase could ramble some convoluted explanation.

"Interesting," Sean simply responded and returned to his dinner.

Chase soon changed the topic and tried to refrain from further mentions of Zoey as they got to know Sean a bit more.

* * *

"What exactly do you mean by awkward?" Nicole questioned in an attempt to get more information so they could all help Lola figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

Lola sighed and grabbed another piece of pizza from the open box on her and Dana's coffee table that they were all sitting around. She shrugged and said, "I don't know. First he put his hands on my shoulders and I suddenly didn't know what to do with my hands so I just left them hanging stiffly at my sides. Then we accidentally knocked into each other a bit when we went for attempt number one. And then attempt number two felt so…forced. I guess there was nothing technically unpleasant about it. I mean, it wasn't super wet and he didn't have bad breath and his lips weren't all chapped and dry or anything. It was just…I kept wondering when it would be over. It felt like forever and it was only like…four seconds. And I know he felt it too because he raced out of here while I was coming up with a reason to get him to race out of here."

Dana was the first to respond. She declared, "Well, what you have to do is clear then. Break up with him."

"What?! No!," Lola cried.

Dana shrugged and concluded, "Then there's your answer. You had an awful kiss, you still want to be with him, so why are we having all this 'separate dinner' drama?"

Lola seemed to be considering what Dana said and the other girls all decided to add in their common opinions.

"Yeah," Nicole agreed, "Dana's actually right. Your first kiss together might have been bad, but all that really matters is that you still want to be with him. Awkwardness just happens sometimes."

"It can't get any worse, right?" Zoey asked, "So the next time it will be better and you guys will be fine."

Quinn nodded her agreement and when the girls looked to her to add in her support she quickly offered, "Well, science and probability are actually behind you guys working this out too, but if I try and explain that you guys will all probably stop listening and be really bored right?" They nodded in agreement so she added, "Then you'll just have to trust me on it. You guys are going to be fine. This is just an…anomaly."

"You guys are right," Lola finally agreed, "I like Michael, and it certainly can't get any worse so next time the pressure will be off and we'll be fine."

A minute passed in silence and since they were all pretty much done eating Quinn was the first to voice the next obvious question, "So, are we done here then?"

"You guys all really hate that you had to miss dinner with the guys and probably other plans for this, right?" Lola asked guiltily for her freak-out ruining their evenings.

She was met with a chorus "of course not"'s and "No"'s.

Quinn explained first since she was the one to ask in the first place, "My plans with Jack weren't until eight anyway so I'm not missing anything."

"What are you guys doing?" Nicole asked curiously.

"Just studying," Quinn responded.

"Oh, yeah, _studying_," Dana said suggestively.

Quinn's forehead crinkled in confusion so she asked, "I know you're implying something, but I don't know what. So, what are you trying to say?"

"You're going to make out," Dana explained simply.

"Oh, well, yeah, from eight-thirty to eight-forty and from nine-thirty to nine-forty, but other than that we are studying. Jack has academic decathlon coming up," Quinn assured.

"You make out based on a schedule?" Dana questioned.

"Yes," Quinn responded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

The girls accepted it as being a quintessential Quinn thing to do and moved on with the help of Nicole returning to the original topic when she said, "Well, I really wanted to meet this new guy that's staying with the guys and see if he's cute or not. But girlfriends come before boys so I'm happy to be here."

"Me too," Zoey agreed.

They all looked to Dana, who they all assumed didn't like missing out on time with Logan. But they also all knew that she wouldn't admit to that so they weren't surprised when she caved and also agreed, "Fine, me too."

Lola was about to tease her and say something like, "Please, we all know you hate spending any time away from Logan…or it definitely seems that way since you spend all of your time with him." But before Lola could even begin to say any of the many lines in her head about her roommate's relationship habits, said roommate's phone started ringing.

Dana didn't look at her caller ID when she answered so she was surprised when she heard who it was. "Hi Abby," she said happily and to the confused faces of the rest of the girls in the room. She stood up and rushed out covering the end of her phone as she lied to the girls, "My old roommate from last year. Gotta take this."

The door shut behind Dana before any of the girls could respond. But Nicole was the first to point out, "Wasn't her roommate's name Ava? Because when she told me I remember telling her, 'No way! Ava is what I'm going to name one of my daughters."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Zoey agreed. She also thought 'Abby' was a name Dana had never mentioned before.

"Maybe it was Logan," Quinn suggested.

But Lola had been sitting next to Dana so she responded, "No, I could hear a voice on the other end and it was definitely female."

They were all silent thinking for a minute, but none of them could think of a single thing that could be up with Dana and this 'Abby' mystery so Nicole summed up the group's decision toward it when she shrugged and said, "Oh well."

Quinn soon left to meet Jack and Dana never returned (they all assumed she could be found wherever Logan was), but Lola, Nicole, and Zoey hung out the rest of the night. Frequently the conversation came back around to assuring Lola that everything would be all right with her and Michael, but eventually the all got distracted by _Grey's Anatomy_. So, in the end, it turned out to be a fairly typical Thursday for the girls.

* * *

Once again the gang didn't all make it to breakfast at the same time. Lola avoided it since she knew Michael usually beat her there and she didn't want to have a big awkward _group_ situation. Dana and Logan were…busy. The new guy, Sean, was told to report to his counselor before classes, so the girls that did come to breakfast-Zoey and Nicole-still didn't get to meet him. Quinn ate breakfast with Jack and thus, the only people that saw each other before homeroom were Michael, Chase, Zoey and Nicole at breakfast and Dana and Logan in the library basement.

The awkward whole group moment that Lola feared came with homeroom. She arrived first and sat down and began looking over the book she was supposed to be reading for English. Quinn showed up next and they started talking. But then, the rest of the gang, the ones that ate breakfast together, showed up-which consisted of Michael. The rest of the group got quiet. Quinn stopped talking mid-conversation. Michael glanced at her as he walked in and sat down. He glanced at her again once he was sitting. She did the same.

Luckily, the awkwardness was broken by Logan and Dana running in just as the bell rang. He was holding her hand too-it didn't go unnoticed.

Everyone in the gang was avoiding the subject of what happened between Michael and Lola whenever they were around one of them, which made everyone awkward around Michael and Lola even when they weren't around each other.

So, by lunch Michael had decided that it was time to stop avoiding and he got a note passed along to Lola that simply asked:

_Lunch? At the pond?_

She texted him a 'yes' under her desk during class.

* * *

Lunch turned out to be quite eventful.

John ate lunch alone with Tiffany again. Her friends weren't eating with his friends. He simply headed straight to her table when he got his food. Her friends weren't there yet, but Jenna and Morgan had been planning to eat with their friend. That was, until Morgan saw Tiffany and John sitting next to each other, laughing. She figured it best if they were left alone and persuaded Jenna that football players needed company before Jenna could see the pair eating lunch-she would make a big deal out of it and everything would end there. Granted, Morgan hated eating with a group of guys-she was not comfortable around them and she didn't flirt well, not like Jenna. But she sucked it up because in the two years she had been Tiffany's friend, she'd never seen her smile like she was with John.

Across the quad, Nicole and Zoey finally got to meet Sean.

Chase had found him in line at lunch and invited him to sit with them insisting that this time he'd actually meet the girls-some of them at least.

Nicole and Zoey were waiting at their usual table when Chase showed up with Sean. Chase sat down next to Zoey and Sean took the seat on his other side, which also left him sitting next to Nicole.

Nicole looked ready to faint. Sean was a definite hottie by her standards, and probably most people's standards. He had light brown hair, deep hazel eyes, and a chiseled jaw. He looked like a Ralph Lauren model, and he was dressed like one too.

Chase immediately began introductions as he sat down, "Sean this is Zoey and Nicole. Guys this is Sean…from…Virginia, right?"

"Yeah," Sean confirmed as he reached across the table and shook Zoey's hand with a courteous "nice to meet you". He did the same with Nicole, but she was a bit spaced in her staring and it took her a second to realize he was even looking at her with his hand offered out.

Nicole giggled off her embarrassment and found her voice to ask, "So, Sean, what brings you to PCA?"

He shrugged as he replied, "Well I never particularly liked my last school, never felt like I fit in. So, I started looking up new boarding schools to transfer to and it was really no contest. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to a school near the beach? It seemed like the perfect choice after spending a year and a half at in the land locked state of Utah."

Sean continued to answer more questions from the girls. Most of them were the same as the ones Chase and Michael had asked (Logan wasn't interested), but that was to be expected when one was new.

By the time it was ten minutes to the end of lunch the girls had learned that Sean liked to snowboard, play water polo, play regular polo, and that he was actually a junior, was an only child, was told his roommates would be Austin Broker and Olivier McNair, and was dreading his next class because he hated being forced to draw but got stuck in art because nothing else had a free place for him.

They had somehow transitioned from their worst experiences in an art class to talking about palm reading (it probably had something to do with Nicole's story of a botched up tracing of her own hand). Sean claimed he knew how to palm read and reached for Zoey's hand across the table. She didn't take her hand back as he traced lines in her and with the tip of his index finger and finally said, "Wow, look at that, your love line and life line are parallel for quite some time. It looks like they're in sync for right around the time of high school."

Zoey rolled her eyes dramatically and pulled her hand away as she gawfed and said, "Yeah right. Very funny."

Chase, meanwhile, was extremely agitated. Sean knew he loved Zoey and he was hitting on her? And Zoey was smiling and totally buying into it. She was flirting back. He couldn't believe his luck. Of course he would introduce Zoey into her next boyfriend; his life just sucked that much.

He interjected the conversation desperately, "Oh, Zoe, we need to stop by Dean River's office for student council, remember?"

"Right," Zoey said jumping up, "We better hurry." She politely told Sean that it was nice to meet him and see him and Nicole later.

Nicole was excited at the prospect of alone time with Sean, but her hopes were quickly dashed as both Dana and Logan plopped down at the table and hurriedly started eating.

Since Logan made no move to introduce Dana and Dana hadn't seemed to notice that anyone new was even there, Nicole introduced Sean, "Dana, this is Sean, the guy's temporary roommate. And Sean, this is Dana."

He shook her hand as he recalled, "The not-a-girlfriend that Logan's always off with?"

"What do you mean 'always'? You've been here what? Less than a day? Like you could define always," Dana attacked.

Sean seemed taken aback and was about to apologize as he didn't mean to imply anything, but Nicole assured, "Oh, don't worry about her. She's like that with everyone. You'll see." She got up and added, "I'd stay and explain it to you more, but I've got to talk to some of the girls from the team before class so I'll see you around."

Dana and Logan seemed to be exchanging glares when they weren't hurriedly eating and Sean began to worry. First, Chase seemed mad at him when he left, which didn't make sense since he was trying to help the guy out by letting Zoey-cute, but oblivious-know that someone was in love with her now. Then, he immediately started off bad with this Dana, Logan didn't seem to particularly like him, and he really wanted to leave, but he didn't really have anywhere to go.

Quinn dropped by the table then since Jack had already headed off to class early. She came over and sat down in a hopeless heap. "Hi, I'm Quinn," she greeted to the guy she didn't recognize, her hand offered.

Sean shook her hand and said, "I'm Sean, the guy that's staying with Chase and Michael and Logan because of the flood."

"Right," Quinn nodded.

"Where's Jack?" Dana asked conversationally, "I thought you were eating with him today."

"I did," she confirmed, "he went to get coffee before heading to class early."

"Coffee," Sean exclaimed, thrilled that someone had provided him with an excuse. He realized he had three pairs of eyes on him and he hurriedly stood up as he rushed to explain, "I really wanted to get some, but um, where is this supposed coffee cart I keep hearing about?"

Quinn gave him directions and he was finally off away from the people that didn't seem thrilled about being in his company.

Quinn sighed heavily, which prompted Dana to ask, "Is everything all right?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. She attempted to explain, "You know how Jack eats with different people every meal right?" She received a nod from Dana as Logan continued eating so she went on, "Well, since I'm with him now, I eat with all of the different groups he hangs out with and I don't feel like I fit in with any of them and he's right at home with all of them. I don't know what to do."

Before Dana could respond with anything Logan loudly and authoritatively said, "Slut up."

"What?" Quinn questioned confused.

"Slut up," Logan said, annunciating slowly. He explained his reasoning through his mouthful of food, "Slut up your wardrobe and appearance in general. Any guys in any of the groups would instantly like you because you'd be all hot. And any of the girls in any of the groups would hate you for being pretty and with Jack, but they'd respect you because you'd be slutty like them."

"That's horrible advice," Dana adamantly declared. Logan simply carelessly shrugged in response and returned to his lunch. Dana rolled her eyes at him and returned to Quinn and her problem offering, "Well, just pretend everyone's us. I mean, you're comfortable talking to all of us about anything so treat everyone like us and maybe you'll get more comfortable."

Logan scoffed at that-sending food flying out of his mouth-and looked at Dana disbelievingly.

"Yeah," Quinn agreed with Dana, "I'll try that. And if it doesn't work I guess I'm going to try and find conversation tips on-line."

"That's always a fall back," Dana agreed.

"So what do you guys think of this new guy? I only got to meet him for that second," Quinn asked changing the subject.

Dana shrugged and non-committally responded, "He seems okay, I guess."

"Don't like him," Logan declared bluntly.

"Why not?" Quinn questioned.

"I don't know," Logan said with a shrug, "There's just something off about him. He seems like he's hiding something…or fake or something."

"Okay, you're either paranoid or just jealous that he's hotter than you," Dana stated knowing the response it would get.

She wasn't disappointed when Logan dropped his pudding cup and cried, "He is NOT!"

An argument about Logan's attractiveness ensued between Dana and Logan that they got so into that they had no idea when Quinn left and that was only broken up by the warning bell ringing signaling the start of their next classes.

* * *

Unfortunately the only two people that didn't have an interesting lunch were Michael and Lola. When Lola texted Michael her "yes" to his lunch proposal her teacher caught her and she was given a lunchtime detention as per school policy. Of course she had to be allowed to eat so she was given five minutes to get something and return to class to serve her detention. In her five minutes she had just enough time to run to Michael by the lake and let him know why she couldn't stay. He understood and they made a quick arrangement to have dinner alone together.

So, over twenty-four hours after their incredibly uncomfortable kiss moment, Michael and Lola were finally alone together to discuss what happened.

Michael had just arrived and he sat by Lola on her couch, both of them facing forward. Michael was nervously jiggling his leg; Lola was chipping off her finger nail polish. Either of them wanted to be the first one to talk.

After three minutes of silence that felt excruciatingly long Lola finally mustered her courage and dove in. She took a deep breath and rushed through absolutely everything she had been thinking in the blink of an eye, "God, that kiss was awful, I know. And now everything is all weird between us. But I don't think that it's that bad of a thing. I mean, yeah the kiss was bad, but we just put a lot of pressure on it by waiting so long and I know I had been thinking about it a lot and I like you so much so my expectations were really high. It can't get any worse though, right? I mean next time we try the pressure will be off because it can't be any more awful. So, we have nothing to be worried about and nothing to be all awkward around each other about-"

Lola was cut off by Michael's lips deftly capturing hers; his hands cupping her face. He had realized while she was talking that he had been thinking the exact same thing and maybe what they needed for their next kiss was to not think about it at all and a little spontaneity to ensure that that was true. And she kept talking and her lips kept moving and he kept watching them as they rapidly formed each quickly spoken word and he decided now was as good a time as any. So he kissed her, and she kissed him back, and it wasn't awful or inept, it was pretty good.

They broke apart after about a minute, faces flushed and smiling. Lola was the first to speak again, though she had trouble finding the right words, "That was…"

"Good," Michael finished for her.

"Yeah," she agreed happily.

"So, do you want to get some dinner now?" Michael asked since they had planned to get dinner alone tonight.

"Not really," Lola admitted blushing.

Michael kissed her quickly for that, but he was a guy and that meant that he was almost always hungry so as much as he would have liked to sit on Lola's couch with her and find out how long he could go before-or if he ever would-get tired of kissing Lola, his stomach wouldn't allow him to do so. It grumbled loudly just as he pulled away from her and prompted him to stand up and suggest, "How about we get something quick to eat and then we can come back here?"

"I guess," Lola agreed with a playful pout.

_Well its been building up inside of me_

_For oh I don't know how long_

_I don't know why_

_But I keep thinking_

_Something's bound to go wrong_

Michael took her hand in his and threaded their fingers as they headed out her door.

_But she looks in my eyes_

_And makes me realize_

_And she says "don't worry baby"_

_Don't worry baby_

Everything was right with them again.

_Don't worry baby_

_Everything will turn out alright_

* * *

Meanwhile, one floor above Lola's room, Tiffany sat on her couch with John. She was flipping through an issue of Vogue while he pretended to watch her TV.

He didn't think she was looking so he stealthily tried to pull his cell phone out of the right pocket of his pants.

"Don't even think about it," Tiffany ordered without even looking up from her magazine.

"I just want to check in and make sure everything's okay," he claimed as innocently as he could muster.

She turned to her right to give him a disbelieving glance, but he had turned to his left to be looking at her and her glance ended up turning into a stare. She managed to snap out of it after a second and say, "No you don't. What you want to do is get in your car, drive an hour back to Santa Barbara, and spy on them. And that's why we're here in the first place. You can't be trusted not to do that so until I get a call from your sister after her date has ended, you will not be leaving my sight."

"What if I have to go to the bathroom?" John challenged.

"Then I hope you're not shy," Tiffany returned easily.

He couldn't help but laugh at that. God, she was stubborn and frustrating. And he didn't mind, in fact, it was kind of oddly alluring.

She laughed too and he returned to staring at her TV because he had learned over break that he really liked when she was real and he especially liked when she smiled or laughed and the hormonal teenage guy in him found it kind of irresistible. But she was his stepsister now so he needed to be in control of his hormonal urges and so far he always managed to force the thoughts that real smiles and hearty laughs induced away.

He stole a glance at her and noticed that she had returned to her magazine. He suddenly found himself suggesting, "You know, you could come with me back to Santa Barbara. You could supervise me there and we could spend the weekend, come back Sunday."

"No," she replied with some difficulty. She sighed and explained, "You don't need to spy on your sister. And even if I let you go there with me, I doubt I'd be able to stop you from doing something stupid. Just trust your sister and keep watching…wait, _MythBusters_, oh I love this show."

"You like _MythBusters_?" He asked distracted by her statement.

"Yeah," she confirmed tossing her magazine onto the coffee table in front of her. He still seemed confused at her admission so she tried to explain, "Well, you know how close I've always been with my dad since it's been just the two of us forever?" He nodded in understanding as she referenced some of the conversations they had had over winter break. She continued, "_MythBusters _is his type of show. It's like all the stuff I grew up watching with him. So, I watch it a lot when I'm here because it reminds me of him."

John nodded because it made sense to him. And since she had just told him something real, he confessed, "Yeah, I kind of do the same thing. Whenever I miss my mom, I watch _Oprah_."

Tiffany laughed and apologized, "Sorry, just the idea of you watching _Oprah_, it's hard to imagine."

"Like you watching _MythBusters_," John countered.

She rolled her eyes good naturedly and declared, "Well, I do. And you can be assured that I do actually watch it a lot because this episode coming on now, I've seen it. It's the underwater car. They're also going to try and fold a piece of paper in half more than seven times and they're going to try it with a piece of paper as big as a football field at NASA."

John turned his attention to the screen again and within seconds they announced that in this episode they'd be doing exactly what Tiffany said. "Okay, fine, I believe you," he conceded.

"And what are you going to tell me to let me know you're not lying?" Tiffany questioned, not that she didn't believe him though because she had found John to be a very honest and trustworthy person, but she had to hassle him as he did her.

John thought for a second before he divulged, "Oprah's boyfriend's name is Steadman and her best friend that she does stuff with on the show sometimes is Gayle King."

"I don't know if that's true," Tiffany admitted because she wasn't into Oprah, "But I'll google it later to see if you know your Oprah stuff."

"When you do you can come tell me how I'm right," John said leaning back against her couch confidently and putting his feet up on her coffee table.

She slouched down on her couch getting more comfortable as well as they continued to watch the re-run.

The show went to commercial break and as John worried about his sister a thought occurred to him. He asked, "So, how old were you when you had your first date? I mean, I know a lot of guys that have said they've been out with you so you must have started dating younger than my sister right?"

"First, no I did not start dating younger than your sister. I had my dad and he was the only guy I needed in my life. And it was only when I came to school here and he wasn't constantly in my life anymore that I started dating so like her I was thirteen. And secondly, are you calling me slutty with all of these supposed guys I've dated?" Tiffany demanded with a finger pointed at John accusingly.

"No," John immediately denied, "I said a lot of guys said that they've been out with you, as in once, and as in it didn't go anywhere. And since you've managed to go on one date with half of my football team, half the senior team, and a lot of guys from every other sport team on campus, I just figured you must have started young. But, it makes sense that you didn't, with your dad and all. I'm sorry if the question upset you."

"Don't worry about it," she brushed off with a shrug feeling just a bit ridiculous accusing him. But she knew that there were rumors about her and it's not like she knew what ones he heard or believed and most of them really weren't true and they were things that she didn't want him believing about her. She tried to move on and asked, "What about you? How old were you when you had your first date?"

"Well," he began and hesitated, "When my dad left I had to help take care of Hailey and Trevor and my mom so I didn't really have time for a social life until I came here. So my first date was my freshman year here, I was fourteen."

"Where'd you go and who was it with?" Tiffany asked curiously.

"We went to a movie, um, The Ring 2, I believe, and her name was Tracy Shandy, she was in my grade, but, thankfully, she left," John recalled.

"Why thankfully? Did it go bad?" Tiffany inquired knowingly.

John groaned, frustrated that he had admitted something without meaning to. He laughed it off a bit because while it was embarrassing at the time, it was kind of funny. He explained, "It was awful. She wouldn't sit in the seat next to me at the theater because she said she 'needed her space', I still managed to sneeze on her popcorn, I was the one who was jumping in my seat at the scary scenes during the movie, and I still decided to kiss her at the end of the night and it would have been my first real kiss, if I hadn't ended up kissing her nose."

Tiffany couldn't resist laughing just picturing the unfortunate date. She was practically hysterical, but she was aware that she was laughing _at _him so she guiltily tried to calm down. He noticed and brushed it off, "Don't worry about it, now that I think about it, the whole mess of a night was pretty hilarious."

Tiffany's laughter got louder again, but in a few dozen more second she wore herself out and stopped laughing.

"So, was your first date as awful as mine?" he asked conversationally.

"No," she said with a shake of her head, "He took me to dinner. He paid, pulled out my chair. I had him wrapped around my finger the whole time and the kiss at the end was good."

"Oh, so he didn't pull an idiot move when he kissed you like I did with Tracy?" John asked in a jokingly self-deprecating manner.

"He didn't kiss me,_ I_ kissed him," Tiffany corrected proudly.

"Of course you did," John responded, not surprised that Tiffany wasn't the type of girl to wait for the guy to make the first move. But the idea of Tiffany kissing her first date caused a thought to occur to him. He groaned and asked worriedly, "Oh God you don't think Hailey would kiss her date do you?"

"Well, I have always instructed her to take control of situations," Tiffany said reflectively. John rubbed his hands over his face frustrated and Tiffany knew what she was doing to him so she admitted, "But I don't think Hales would actually do that because she's more traditional. And she sort of shy so she's not going to want to kiss him at the dance with all those people there or in your car with your mom there. I think her date is going to end kiss-less."

He felt better now so he gave her an appreciative smile and simply stared at her for a minute. They had talked many times before about personal stuff or anything really, just as they had been now. He couldn't remember ever enjoying simply talking to a girl so much. He wasn't sure that it was an entirely good thing-how much he liked being with her. So, he turned his attention back to the TV and tried to get into finding out if the giant piece of paper could be folded in half more than seven times.

Tiffany followed his lead and turned back to the TV. She really had to stop talking to him like this, she had to stop being honest with him. No one else knew her that well, no one else got that close to her, and she couldn't let him be the one that did, he wasn't supposed to ever mean that much to her, not when their parents were married.

An hour later Tiffany felt a weight on her shoulder. It was John's head. He was sound asleep. And he was close enough that she could tell what kind of (incredible) body wash he used. Her whole body tingled at the contact, there was the familiar flip in her stomach, and the thud thud thud in her chest.

This had to stop.

* * *

Michael woke up early the next morning and happily went to breakfast alone as his roommates took advantage of the Saturday and slept in. He felt really good, there was even a jaunt in his step as he headed out of his building and toward the cafeteria. The previous night with Lola had been fantastic. Not that he didn't always have a good time with her-with the exception of the awkward kiss- but the previous night was particularly good and he had never felt more confident about their relationship or their future.

As Michael reached the cafeteria and picked up a tray as he got in a pretty much non-existent line he heard a familiar voice singing, "If I could be sweet, I know I've been a real bad girl, I didn't mean for you to get hurt whatsoever, We can make it better, Tell me boy now wouldn't that be sweet?" He smiled to himself, quickly put some scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, a muffin, and an orange on his tray and raced to catch up the voice that was drifting out the door now.

He caught her about thirty feet from their usual table. He could tell yelling would be no use since she had her earphones in and iPod on. So, he put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

Nicole jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, but luckily she didn't drop or even slightly spill her tray. She took her earphones out and exclaimed, "Oh darn that scared me."

"Sorry," Michael apologized genuinely and tried to explain why he didn't just say something to get her attention instead, "I could hear that you had your head phones in though so I knew yelling for you would be pointless. But I am sorry for scaring you."

"It's no problem," she assured as she continued toward their table, "I really need to stop listening to music when I'm not alone anyway. I always end up singing along and people don't seem to like it."

"Why?" Michael questioned as they sat down, "You have a nice voice."

"Aw, thank you," Nicole responded sincerely. She shrugged as if she didn't really care about it, but said anyway, "I've just been told 'I ruin good song' a couple of times."

"That's ridiculous," Michael said adamantly, "I mean, you do have good taste in songs so I would expect you to be singing something good, but anyone who tells you you ruin songs is just jealous."

"That'd be so cool," Nicole replied wistfully.

They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate. But Nicole was never really comfortable with silence, it gave her mind the opportunity to race with way too many thoughts. She always got up this early on Saturdays, but she realized she didn't think she'd ever seen Michael here since she usually ate alone. She also noticed that he had seemed to be in a particularly good mood. And she wondered if maybe Sean had mentioned her. Or what was up with Chase because he had seemed weird at both lunch and dinner. And she hadn't talked to Lola yet so she didn't know how her and Michael's evening went. See, there really were too many thoughts in her head when it was quiet.

She decided that she should erase some-or all-of the questions from her mind by talking to Michael. "So," she began, "what brings you to breakfast so early?"

"I always get up this early," Michael answered.

Nicole was confused at that because, "I don't think I've ever seen you at breakfast though."

"Yeah," Michael agreed and explained, "I've had football practice all last semester so I usually just grabbed a banana or something and ate on my way there and had lunch after." "Why are you up this early on a Saturday though?" Michael asked curiously since it seemed most other people slept in-the quad was practically empty now at eight in the morning.

"I'm a morning person," Nicole responded simply with a smile.

Michael nodded, it made perfect sense for Nicole. He was about to ask if the school was always this quite at this time on a Saturday since he figured Nicole would know, but she got in a question first.

"How are things with Lola?" Nicole asked hoping that it didn't seem like she was prying.

"Good," Michael replied happily, "Thanks again for the advice the other day. You were right. And now that we got past the whole awkward bad kiss, I think we're going to be okay. I mean, I still don't know if she's the Zoey to my Chase, but I feel good about us."

"That's great," Nicole exclaimed.

"Yep," Michael agreed.

Another comfortable silence settled over them as they continued to pick over their breakfasts. The next time Michael looked up he noticed Nicole worrying her lip and he could tell she really wanted to ask something.

He sighed, put down his fork, and asked, "What's up?"

Nicole hesitated for the briefest of seconds before bursting out, "Has Sean mentioned me? Do you think he's interested in me? Because he's so cute and I couldn't tell if maybe he was into me because during lunch and dinner yesterday he paid as much attention to me as he did Zoey and Chase so I don't know what to think. But has he talked to you? Do you know if I'm his type?"

"First of all Nicole, you're every guy's type," Michael responded. He saw Nicole's look of disbelief and her mouth opening to respond so he hurried on to cut her off, "You're fun, you're sweet, you're a great friend, and you're beautiful and any guy who thinks you're not his type is a complete idiot." He realized he hadn't fully responded to her question so he added, "And Sean hasn't said anything to me about you, but I can't think of a reason that he wouldn't be interested."

Nicole squealed, stood up and rushed around the table and captured Michael in a bone crushing hug before he knew what happened. "Thank you! You're like the best friend ever," Nicole said sincerely as she let him go. She returned to her seat and added as an afterthought, "Don't tell any of the girls I said that."

"My lips are sealed if you stop doubting that you're a catch," Michael bargained.

Nicole blushed just as she had at his previous compliments, but agreed, "Done."

After another minute of silence and Nicole still squealing in delight on the inside at the idea of her being the type of girl any guy would want, Michael realized, "You know, I don't think I really know that much about you Nicole. I mean, most of the time that we talk, just the two of us, we talk about Chase and Zoey."

"Well, what do you want to know?" Nicole offered.

"Umm, I don't know," Michael admitted since he hadn't actually thought that far ahead. He thought for a second until a question popped into his head and he asked, "How was your break?"

"Great," Nicole responded excitedly, "I love Christmas. I knitted scarves with my sister, baked cookies with my mom, and watched my town's holiday parade with my dad. Also, Christmas was at my aunt's this year and her place is huge so we got to play running charades. So much fun!"

"We should play that sometime with everyone," Michael suggested.

"We totally should," Nicole agreed.

Nicole returned Michael's question and asked, "How was your break?"

"Pretty good," Michael responded genuinely, "My sister came back from college a couple of days after we got out so I got to see her for a while, which was cool. My mom and my uncles put together a lot of really good food for Christmas. I played some basketball against my dad to practice for the new season and I got to spend some time just doing nothing, relaxing."

"Cool," Nicole replied.

Silence settled over them again for a whole minute and a half before Nicole couldn't help but return to their default topic, "So is Chase seriously jealous of Sean? Because that was how it seemed yesterday at lunch and dinner and Zoey totally didn't seem into Sean so Chase had absolutely no reason to be that way."

"I know," Michael agreed, "When Sean left to get some coffee last night Chase started telling me everything Sean said that he thought meant Sean was hitting on Zoey, but I didn't see it at all. And when I asked Chase if he thought Zoey was flirting back he said yes, but I know he had to be delusional because I think Zoey's come around to looking at Chase as much more than a friend."

"Me too," Nicole exclaimed eagerly.

They couldn't help but continuing to discus their default topic. They'd have to move on to something new some other time because there was just too much about their usual subject to talk about at the moment.

* * *

_We spent some time _

_Together walking_

A couple of hours later at the more reasonable hour of ten-thirty, Tiffany found John approaching her table just as she took her bite of her Special K cereal. She smiled at him, but she wasn't at all happy about what she knew she'd have to do at some point this morning.

_Spent some time just talking_

_About who we were_

"Hey," he greeted as he sat down with his plate of waffles.

"Morning," she returned.

_You held my hand so _

_Very tightly_

_And told me what we_

_Could be dreaming of_

Unfortunately the topic he stared with was one that she was dreading because it provided her with the opportunity to say what she had to, but didn't want to. He proposed, "So, do you wanna catch a movie tonight or something?"

_There's nothing like you and I_

_Nothing like you and I_

_There's nothing like you and I_

He took a bite of his waffle as he waited for her reply though he was pretty sure he knew it. They had hung out quite a bit around their house and with this siblings over break and he didn't see why things wouldn't continue to be the same now that it was just the two of them back at school. Last night had been perfectly normal-except waking up to her gentle prodding because that was oddly intimate and…nice.

_We spent some time _

_Together drinking_

But Tiffany didn't respond how he thought because she knew needed this to be over; it wasn't healthy for her. She took a bite of her fruit, chewed quickly, and responded nonchalantly, "I can't. I have a date tonight."

_Spent some time just thinking_

_About days of joy_

"You do?" He questioned surprised, "Why didn't you mention it when we were talking about dating last night?"

_As our hearts started_

_Beating faster_

_I recalled your laughter_

_From long ago_

"It just happened like twenty minutes ago," she responded semi-honestly. The guy, Ralph Tanner a tight end for the varsity football team, had been asking her out every so often for the last year. She didn't really have a reason for always turning him down other than she knew it wouldn't go anywhere and he was only half an inch taller than her, which she didn't particularly like. But, lucky for her he asked again this morning and now instead of lying to avoid spending time with John alone, she had an actual excuse.

_There's nothing like you and I_

"Oh," he said, trying to accept it despite how completely unexpected it was.

_Nothing like you and I _

_There's nothing like you and I_

She was already done with her small bowl of cereal and she had promised herself she wouldn't linger anywhere with him ever again so she stood up and picked up her tray.

_We spent some time _

_Together crying_

_Spent some time just trying _

_To let each other go_

She was leaving and he felt like he just sat down. But he noticed her empty bowl and supposed it was natural that she would leave if she was done eating. He suggested hopefully, "I guess I'll see you around."

_I held your hand so _

_Very tightly _

_And told you what I_

_Would be dreaming of_

"Sure," she lied as she hastily left. She dropped off her tray and bowl in the cafeteria and caught a glimpse of John sitting at the table she just left alone. She wished things didn't have to be this way, but she couldn't handle this. She was already closer to him than she was to most people besides her dad and it wasn't in a sibling way so she needed to stop it before it got out of hand. So, she left the cafeteria, she didn't return to him and avoided him completely the rest of the weekend. She did what she had to and she had never felt worse.

_There's nothing like you and I_

_Nothing like you and I_

_There's nothing like you and I_

_So why do I even try_

_There's nothing like you and I_

* * *

Zoey and Chase both managed to drag themselves out of bed and get dressed by their mid-afternoon movie plans.

_There's nothing like you and I_

They were on their way across campus after Zoey had stopped by Chase's room to get him. Sean was there when she stopped by and just the brief exchange of hello's between Zoey and Sean had Chase peeved.

_There's nothing like you and I_

"We probably should have invited Sean to come with us?" Zoey said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Chase agreed shortly. He hated that idea of course, but he was trying not to show his agitation.

_Nothing like you and I_

"You wanna know something horrible?" Zoey asked as they reached the movie ticket line. Chase nodded so she continued, "I knew we should invite him-to be nice and all-before I even got to your room. But when I got there I just couldn't do it. Isn't that horrible of me?"

_There's nothing like you and I_

_Nothing like you and I_

Chase was confused because Zoey was always kind and thoughtful so how did she just not do something that was both? He had to ask, "Why didn't you say anything?"

_There's nothing like you and I_

"Well, I was thinking," Zoey began as she burrowed deeper into her coat as a cold wind hit them, "If he came along we couldn't whisper to each other during the movie like we usually do and I don't know if I could stand that. Being at a movie with you, but not talking to you because someone else was there; it just sounds like…torture." She smiled at him and asked, "That's really horrible of me isn't it?"

_Nothing like you and I_

_There's nothing like you and I_

"Not at all," Chase assured, "I feel exactly the same way. It would have been pure torture to share you."

_Nothing like you and I_

Chase smiled at her, his classic lopsided smile. She smiled at him until the ticket stand person called next and broke the moment. But suddenly, Chase didn't think that the new guy, Sean, was so bad after all.

_There's nothing like you and I_

* * *

**A/N: **So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please do **REVIEW.** Interest in this story seems to have gone down, which is perfectly understandable given how long it takes me to update. But, as mentioned many times, I have a busy life and I won't stop writing this story because I love writing it, but if no one else is really interested still, then I won't have a reason to make it a priority in my free time so…just please **REVIEW** if you are still reading and want to continue to do so.

Also, I'm sorry if this chapter had tons of typos, I'm a bit scattered at the moment so I fear that in my quick proofreads must have missed a lot and I do apologize for that.

**The Next Chapter:** The next chapter is titled "Clueless" and will largely focus on Nicole and her quest for a boyfriend. In the process of Nicole's mission, there will also be substantial amounts of every couple (or non-couple in Dana and Logan's case). We'll also get to know Sean a bit better as he is going to be popping up quite a bit in the story for a while.

Also, just to keep you guys on your toes, the chapter after next is Logan's birthday and, personally, I can't wait to get to it because whatever you're expecting for Logan's birthday, it's going to be completely different. And, just to give you a heads up, some of the current pairings will be no more by the end of this story, but some new ones will have popped up.

As always, I'm going to try and keep my profile updated regularly with progresses and if you visit and notice I'm slacking on that aspect, feel free to message me and remind me to do so.

Again **PLEASE REVIEW!** My classes suck and it would make my day to hear from any of you:)

-Sarah

P.S. If you're looking for more DL-goodness, please check out my new one-shot "Stay" (if you haven't already done so). It's long, but it's one of the few things I've written that I'm very happy with.


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